Fitness and Nutrition News

Pediatricians Call for Ban on Television Junk Food Ads

By: Dan DiPietro-James | Thursday 30 June 2011 11:06 PDT

When is the last time you saw an ad for tobacco products on television? That would be 1971 after Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, which banned tobacco advertising on all television and radio stations. 

Advertisements have a big impact on consumerism and thus public health. That's why some U.S. pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics are trying to ban TV ads for junk foods. They believe the ads promote a sedentary lifestyle in children and fuel the growing childhood obesity epidemic.

Obesity is one of the leading causes of disease and health complications in Americans, including children. According to the American Heart Association, about one in three American children are overweight, or suffer from obesity. Pediatricians say junk food is the culprit. It is high in unhealthy sugars, fats and chemicals that lead to type 2 diabetes and other ailments. 

A study by researchers at the University of Liverpool in the U.K. found that TV ads had a significant impact on the food choices of children ages 6 to 13. Data from the study showed that a DVD featuring fast food and junk food commercials made children antsy for those products and other high-fat and sugar-rich foods. According to study authors, study participants had a greater desire for sweets and fatty foods after viewing the junk food ads compared to days when they watched toy commercials. 

Researchers point out that many other factors play a role in what children desire to eat and no experimental study can truly prove food advertising contributes directly to childhood obesity or type 2 diabetes. However, studies do show advertising plays a role. "This study confirms the cumulative, sustained effect of food marketing on TV: the more children watch TV, the more susceptible they are to advertising," said Lori Dorfman who directs the Berkeley Media Studies Group in California. Dorfman went further in saying, "This might not be so bad if food marketers put their best foods forward, but they don't."

Of utmost importance in preventing childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to researchers, is a parent's willingness to purchase junk food or fast food.

Still, with all the technological gadgets and computers today, it is difficult to control what children see in the virtual world and on TV.

"It's simply not fair to expect parents alone to counter the 2 billion dollars food companies spend each year targeting their kids with fun, irresistible ads for sugary, high-fat, salty foods," added Dorfman.