December 20, 2005 – The majority of food advertisements on television aimed at children almost exclusively promote questionable or downright unhealthy choices, according to an independent report published by the Institute of Medicine1. So much so that its authors recommend that the US Congress legislate to regulate this advertising practice.
In a 500-page document, members of the task force analyze more than 120 studies on children and food marketing. According to them, television advertising promoting foods and beverages for young people is “at odds with the principles of healthy eating and contributes to the global environment which can, in the long term, put children’s health at risk.”
In fact, studies show that advertisements greatly influence the dietary preferences of children aged 2 to 11 and, consequently, the demands they make of their parents. However, since it mainly concerns products rich in calories and poor in nutrients, advertising would influence, in the short term, the consumption of such products within this age group. There is less scientific evidence to establish this link among 12 to 18 year olds due to the small number of studies that have targeted adolescents.
Exposure to these television commercials would play a determining role in the eating habits that children adopt during their life, according to the authors. Children from 2 to 11 years old would be particularly sensitive to it, “at a time when they are shaping their tastes and their food values, and when their critical sense has not yet been built”, we can read in this report. Hence their craze for these junk foods later in adolescence.
“While the scientific evidence does not support a conclusion of a cause and effect link, there is a strong statistical association between exposure to TV advertising and body fat in these two age groups (2 to 11 years old and 12 at 18) ”, specifies the working group. In the United States, childhood obesity has more than tripled over the past four decades and now affects one in six children.
This study was commissioned by the United States Congress and received financial support from an agency under the United States Department of Health.
Martin LaSalle – PasseportSanté.net
1. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? – Report published on December 6, 2005 by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The report is available, for a fee, at: http://www.iom.edu/report.asp?id=31330 [site consulté le 15 décembre 2005].
