Monday, February 27, 2012

Obesity




Heavy television viewing has been associated with obesity. Television might lead to obesity through 3 primary pathways:

1) Displacing time that would otherwise be spent in physical activity

2) Promoting eating while viewing, which may foster both lower-quality and higher-quantity food intake;

3) Exposing children to food advertising, this adversely affects their diets.
            
Studies have shown that the third pathway of food advertising has the most impact on causing children to be overweight. Randomized experiments with children in preschool and first grade have shown that children experimentally exposed to a few commercials are more likely than unexposed children to have positive attitudes toward and to choose the advertised foods over alternatives. Furthermore, one study found that children exposed to advertising were also more likely than were participants in a control group to choose non advertised sugary foods. The effect of the advertising was thus not limited to the specifically advertised brands but had a more general adverse influence on their food choices
           
Marketers target very young children, and children start watching television at very young ages. Almost 90% of children begin watching television regularly before age 2, and the average age of initiation is 9 months. Marketing efforts begin with children as young as 2 years, in order to build brand awareness and brand sympathy. The typical first-grade child can already recognize and respond to more than 200 brands.
           
Research tells us that food advertising is highly effective. Food commercials increase children’s preferences for the advertised products and make kids more likely to ask their parents to buy the products for them. Marketers know this and spend billions of dollars a year on advertising campaigns targeted to children. One study found that children between the ages of eight and twelve years old see, on average, more than 7,600 food commercials every year. Food advertising wouldn’t be such a problem if most of the products being marketed were nutritious, but, unfortunately, that’s not the truth. Commercials for candy, snacks and fast food account for more than half of all food ads targeted to children and teenagers, and commercials for fruits and vegetables are almost nonexistent.
            
In 2003, the World Health Organization classified the marketing of unhealthy foods to children as a probable cause of childhood obesity. Eating while watching television is another likely reason why TV viewing can lead to obesity. More than 60% of children usually eat their meals with the TV on, and children regularly snack while watching TV. Research also suggests that children eat less healthy foods in front of the TV. For example, one study found that children eat more salty snacks and fewer fruits and vegetables when they eat with the TV on. In addition to affecting the types of foods children eat, television has an impact on how much food they consume. Kids tend to eat more food while watching TV than during other activities. Researchers have proposed that watching TV interferes with our bodies’ signals that we’re full. In other words, children become so engrossed in what they’re watching that they don’t realize they’ve had enough to eat.
            
The use of television during family dinners has also been examined. Family dinners without television have been shown to be beneficial to the diets of children and adolescents and have been associated with the likelihood of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables daily Increased frequency of consuming family dinners was also associated with significantly higher intakes of several nutrients, including fiber, calcium, folate, iron, vitamins B6, B12, C, and E; and lower intake of saturated and trans fatty acids as a percentage of energy.
           
In a longitudinal study, family meals during adolescence predicted higher intakes of fruits, vegetables, many important nutrients and an overall higher quality diet in young adulthood.  Studies have shown that when television is on during family dinners, the positive nutritional consequences of eating together are reduced. For example, in a cross-sectional study, they found that in children of low-income families, servings of fruits and vegetables eaten were inversely correlated with the number of times per week the television was on during dinner. Other research confirmed that in parents, when the television was on during dinner, intake of fat increased, whereas servings of fruits and vegetables decreased. As parents are the gatekeepers of food provided to children, it stands to reason that parental eating behavior will impact children. These studies add further to the idea that diet quality is threatened by television, specifically when it is viewed during meal times. It's also reported that children who frequently ate while watching television had a preference for larger portions of energy dense, nutrient-poor foods.

12 comments:

  1. Good information. The research sounds right on from my experience.

    I'd be curious to know if anyone has done research comparing any possible changes between this regular TV watching (with commercials) vs tv watching on things like Netflix (with no commercials). I know that because of DVRs and Netflix, and similar type things, there is much more brand integration going on in shows themselves (such as people on "Chuck" and "Hawaii 50" eating a lot of Subway, and things like that). I wonder if this tactic is utilized as much and as effectively with children.

    I've read enough books (like... 3) on consumerism/advertising/etc that I try and avoid commercials as much as possible, especially for the kids.

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    1. Thanks Andy,

      I have not found any research about regular TV watching vs Netflix, but since Netflix has become so popular, in the future there probably will be studies comparing the two and the effects of it. I appreciate your input in regards to product placement and the books you have read

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  2. Is that 3 books total Andy, or just on consumerism/advertising? Just kidding. I agree that i would expect internet media viewing to be slightly less detrimental because of fewer commercials. I have a hard time believing that the product placement method is as effective as actual commercials. That being said, excessive television still contributes to sedentary lifestyle and leisure, and as we all know, it's all too easy to snack while in front of the tube. Obviously, there are many factors, lifestyle and otherwise, that contribute to obesity. Television watching is only one. But the more aware we can be of the various factors contributing to unhealthy living patterns, the easier it will be to provide healthy options to our children, which is what this blog is all about. Television is not entirely to blame for any personal or societal ill, but it can certainly have a powerful influence on our choices, as well as those of our children. As such, caution and vigilance are warranted when it comes to determining what values and messages we will allow to enter our homes.

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    1. Thanks for commenting Chris,

      I still think commercials are more effective than product placement, but with product placements continuing to grow in the TiVo and DVD recorder era, businesses are having increasing pressure to show a return on investment for that activity. As a result, marketers are becoming more sophisticated about measuring product placements. Several firms offer tools that rate product placements in terms of viewer impact and dollars and cents. For example, Nielsen is in the process of creating a tool that would produce product placement ratings.

      http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10712.pdf

      From finding this it seems that businesses will find ways to try to make product placement more effective with the rating tools they have. Maybe someday if Tivo, netflix, hulu, etc become the dominant media outlet then they could be more effective than commercials.

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  3. Interesting research. I was going to comment about how the television viewing experience is changing and how with Netflix and TiVo we may be looking at a difference in commercial exposure to children, but Andy beat me to it. ;-)
    I am so glad that my own children are rarely exposed to commercials. They think that if they want sweets or a treat like Fruit by the Foot, they have to visit their Aunt Amy. Ha! I'm not looking forward to the day when they discover that I could buy those things if I chose. (I still won't buy them junk, but I'm not looking forward to being pestered about it!)

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    1. Jamie,

      I can imagine it will get harder to limit that or the amount of sweets they get as they get older, but at least you are starting out on the right foot, by limiting commercials and junk food now. Thanks for your comments.

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  4. I'm an empty nester now but I do remember the days when my kids watched the Sat. morning cartoons and wanted some of the things that were advertized on the commercials. It didn't have an effect on what I actually bought at the store though, especially along the lines of food as we weren't into junk food. It's also interesting to think that if kids are really engrossed in what they are watching that they don't pay attention to being full and continue to eat. . . then commercials or not, overeating is happening. At any rate, I love the DVR so I can fast forward through all the commercials.

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    1. I really appreciate your input about commercials and junk food. I love DVR too for that same reason.

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  5. I have mixed feelings on this one. When our kids were young, we didn't watch TV while eating. However, occasionally for a treat, like maybe on the weekend or something, we'd let them eat in the family room on TV trays. I found that when this was done, they actually ate LESS because they were distracted by the TV. It's like they couldn't eat and watch at the same time. I do believe that TV should not take the place of physical activity as this could lead to obesity, and this is why TV needs to be limited. I also believe that having dinner together as a family (without distractions such as phone, TV, or anything else) is one of the most important things you can do. This is when you communicate with each other, talk about the kind of day everyone had, etc. I also heard a Dr. say family meals increase your children's vocabulary. Research was actually done on this. As far as the commercials go (we didn't have dvr's), once in a while the kids would want me to buy something they saw advertised to eat, and once in a while I did. the things I've just written about remind me of the saying "All things in moderation."

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    1. Thanks for your comments. I think it's interesting that your kids would eat less when in front of the TV. I also thought it was interesting about family meals increasing your children's vocabulary.... it does make sense.

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  6. Lets not blame advertisers for kids being fat. Blame their parents. Don't let your kids eat crap and watch tv all day.

    By the way, Mom, thanks for always buying us Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Trix, and Fruit Loops. Those cereals were the best.

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    1. I do agree that parents play a big part in the amount of television watched with their children. Parents can really help with regulating the foods children eat.

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