Good nutrition is essential to the healthy development of children. The influence which advertising of unhealthy food has on how much and what type of food kids eat is therefore of great concern. The University of Liverpool reported, there is a link between food advertising and consumption of food by kids. University of Liverpool health expert Dr Emma Boyland has done research which has confirmed that unhealthy food advertising increases food consumption in children.
Dr Boyland and her associates reviewed and analyzed 22 separate studies that had investigated the impact of acute, experimental unhealthy food advertising exposure on consumption of food. It was shown by the analysis that unhealthy food advertising exposure greatly increased food consumption in kids, but not in adults. There was an equal impact from television and Internet advertising.
Dr Boyland has said this research shows that food advertising doesn’t just affect preference for brands it also drives consumption of food. This becomes of great concern in view of the fact that almost all kids in Westernized societies are exposed to a lot of unhealthy food advertising daily. There has been small but cumulative increases in energy intake which has resulted in the present global childhood obesity epidemic. It is now known that food marketing has been playing a critical role in this.
This research has been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Increased food consumption in kids is significantly influenced by acute exposure to food advertising. The data from this research support initiatives to enact environmental strategies and public health policies which have a goal of decreasing exposure of children to unhealthy food advertising. It would be great to see healthy food advertising begin to replace unhealthy food advertising.
