Television advertisements for foods promote food consumption in children.

"The impact of television (TV) advertisements (commercials) on children's eating behavior and health is of critical interest. In a preliminary study we examined lean, overweight, and obese children's ability to recognize eight food and eight non-food related adverts in a repeated measures design. Their consumption of sweet and savory, high- and low-fat snack foods were measured after both sessions," scientists writing in the journal Appetite report.

"While there was no significant difference in the number of non-food adverts recognized between the lean and obese children, the obese children did recognize significantly more of the food adverts," said Jason C. G. Halford and colleagues at the University of Liverpool in England. "The ability to recognize the food adverts significantly correlated with the amount of food eaten after exposure to them. The overall snack food intake of the obese and overweight children was significantly higher than the lean children in the control (non-food advert) condition. The consumption of all the food offered increased post food advert with the exception of the low-fat savory snack.

"These data demonstrate obese children's heightened alertness to food related cues," reported Halford and his collaborators. "Moreover, exposure to such cues induce increased food intake in all children. As suggested the relationship between TV viewing and childhood obesity appears not merely a matter of excessive sedentary activity. Exposure to food adverts promotes consumption."

Halford and his coauthors published their study in Appetite (Effect of television advertisements for foods on food consumption in children. Appetite, 2004;42(2):221-225).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting Jason C. G. Halford, Department of Psychology, Kissileff Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Eleanor Rathbone Building, Bedford Street South, Liverpool L69 7ZA, UK. E-mail: j.c.g.halford@liv.ac.uk.

The publisher of the journal Appetite can be contacted at: Academic Press Ltd., Elsevier Science Ltd., 24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX, England.

The information in this article comes under the major subject areas of Childhood Obesity, Obesity Risk Factor, Obesity Pathogenesis, Behavioral Medicine, and Pediatrics. This article was prepared by Biotech Law Weekly editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2004, Biotech Law Weekly via LawRx.com.

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Last updated: 06/18/2004 - 02:45 PM