Children with a genetic predisposition to obesity would be more sensitive to food advertising.
Sodas, chocolate bars, fast food… Every day, viewers and Internet users are bombarded with food advertisements. Effective marketing to which children are increasingly exposed.
However, many studies show that these advertisements push this young audience towards fatty foods, too salty or too sweet, which promotes obesity.
A new study published in PNAS suggests that increased vigilance should be worn by some children.
A research team from Dartmouth University shows that children with a genetic predisposition to obesity are much more sensitive to these advertisements than their peers. They came to these conclusions by studying the brains of 78 children aged 9 to 12 using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
So as not to bias their research, the scientists told their little volunteers that they were studying the effects of television on the brain without telling them that they were actually analyzing the impact of food advertising. Thus, the researchers exposed them to television programs interspersed with advertisements for video games and advertisements for junk food.
The disrupted reward circuit
Children with a genetic predisposition to obesity are much more receptive to food advertising than other children, due to a very strong response in the nucleus accumbens, a brain structure involved in controlling desire, the craving and satiety (reward circuit). The researchers also note that the volume of this brain region is much larger in these children than others.
However, the scientific literature highlights the links between the volume of the nucleus accumbens and a high body mass index (BMI) in adults. The researchers suggest that this structure would play a crucial role from childhood and promote the installation of bad eating habits because it is one of the first neurological structures to develop in the brain.
Scientists add that the genetic predisposition to obesity observed in these small volunteers seems to mainly influence the food choices and the rations consumed rather than the low energy expenditure. The whole would thus push these children to adopt bad eating behaviors.
Ban advertising
“From our previous work, we know that children with this same genetic factor are more likely to eat a lot of food after seeing TV commercials, even if they were not hungry,” says Diane Gilbert-Diamond, professor of epidemiology at Dartmouth University and responsible for the work. Brain scans suggest that these children are particularly vulnerable to the sight of food. Thus, by limiting exposure to advertisements, we could effectively combat childhood obesity ”.
An opinion shared by the World Health Organization. In its latest report on the subject, the UN agency called on member states to apply more aggressive policies against food marketing rampant on television but also on the internet.
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