close this window
Cut Commercials, Not Carbs
The fries children see on TV may determine their weight as much as the ones they’re eating.
Childhood obesity in the United States has reached startling proportions: An estimated 25 percent of children under 19 are overweight or obese. Although television viewing has often been cited as a contributing factor by virtue of it being a sedentary activity, a new study by researchers at the University of California-Davis suggests that the advertising children see may actually be a large contributor, too.
For the study, which appears in the November-December issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, researchers examined the types of food advertisements seen by children watching English- and Spanish-language American television programs during high viewing times (weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings). They recorded programs on 12 networks, including popular children’s cable channels, mainstream English-language channels, and popular Spanish-language channels.
Of the 5,724 commercials recorded, 1,162 were food-related — and as we’ve seen, young eyes are not the most discriminating when it comes to healthy chow. Overall, almost 1 in 5 commercials advertised a food- or nutrition-related product, and 5.2 food commercials were presented every hour. Of those, more than 70 percent advertised fast-food restaurants, sugary food, chips/crackers, or sugar-added beverages. Some 34 percent were for fast-food restaurants and convenience food.
Children’s networks ran the highest percentage of food-related commercials, which were primarily for high-fat and high-sugar foods. When compared to television for a general audience, the children’s networks in the study exposed young viewers to 76 percent more food commercials. These networks aired approximately 7.7 food-related commercials per hour — about one every eight minutes.
Eighty percent of MTV commercials advertised fast-food restaurants, sugar-added beverages, and sweets. Food advertising in Spanish-language American programming was primarily for fast-food restaurants and alcohol.
Only 1.7 percent of the commercials advertised fruits, vegetables, and juices, and only one nutrition-related public service announcement was present for every 63 food ads.
The authors of the study believe that reduced media use by itself is insufficient, noting the presence of food advertising in other media used by children, such as the Internet. They suggest that the incorporation of media literacy training into nutrition programs may help children and adolescents better understand advertising strategy and incentives.
But until your children become immune to the larger-than-life junk food flashing across your flat-screen TV every eight minutes, you may want to limit Saturday morning cartoons to DVDs.
Sign up for our free e-newsletter.
Are you on Facebook? Become our fan.
Follow us on Twitter.
word on the street
more in this section
Neglected Tropical Diseases Neglected No More?
Something’s Fishy About That Red Snapper
Where Have All the Doctors Gone?
Do You Know Where Your Medicine Came From?
‘Fair Trade’ Chocolate Perceived as Healthier
Was Lou Gehrig’s ALS Caused by Tap Water?
Placebo Effect Stronger Than We Thought?
Feds Poke Hole in Needle Exchange Funding
FDA Cracks Whip on Lap-Band Marketing
Don’t Tax Soda, Tax Sweeteners
also by this author
Elisabeth BestFormer Miller-McCune Fellow Elisabeth Best is currently pursuing a Masters of Pacific International Affairs at the University of California, San Diego...
Lessons From China and India’s Newspaper BoomHow the print media in China and India are succeeding — and what America’s ailing journalism industry might learn from them.
Making Seed Aid BlossomThe quake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan highlight that the multimillion-dollar emergency seed aid industry is in need of a makeover.
When Migrant Workers Return HomeThousands of Latin-American migrants come to work in the United States every year, legally and illegally. But does their time in the U.S. help or hurt them when they return to their home countries?
Public Schools: An Untapped Recreational ResourceResearchers suggest limiting liability issues to make playgrounds and other recreation areas on school grounds accessible as a cost-effective way to promote public health.
Recreating the Creative Industry in New OrleansIn the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has been rebounding slowly. Five years after the disaster, researchers suggest that the city promote its entertainment industry as a development strategy.
Receive 1 year (6 issues) of our print magazine for just $14.95. Miller-McCune features polished, in-depth reports on research and solutions across the policy spectrum — from health care, education and energy to international affairs, poverty and the global economy. It's a must read for well-informed and solutions-driven individuals.
follow us on:
join our newsletter:
from the source
The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
New research finds listeners judge symphonic music differently when they’re told the conductor is a woman.
Transportation used to be one of the few guaranteed areas of agreement when ideology trumped pragmatism in D.C. But that’s no longer the case.
New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are told individualism is the norm, and instructed to conform.
