Tested advertising massively influences the eating habits of children

Test commercials affect children's eating habits
Up to 40,000 commercials a year watch children while watching TV. Many of them advertise - often unhealthy - foods. According to US researchers, advertising influences children's decisions and could lead to large amounts being consumed.

Advertising could lead to the consumption of large quantities
On average, between 20,000 and 40,000 commercials watch children each year while watching television. Approximately half of all advertising films refer to sugary sodas, confectionery and savory biscuits, as the German Society for Paediatrics and Youth Medicine (DGKJ) found years ago in an investigation. The influence of TV advertising on children is enormous, according to the experts.

This is also shown by a recent study by American scientists. They found that commercials can influence children's choices and mislead them into eating large quantities.

Watching TV sees tens of thousands of commercials every year. These affect the eating behavior of the little ones, as researchers found. (Image: Myst / fotolia.com)

Food selection is based more on the taste
The Professional Association of Paediatricians (BVKJ) reported on its website "kinderaerzte-im-netz.de" about a new study, which showed that children tended to TV spots to an impulsive food selection, the taste rather than to the health oriented. The team of scientists around Prof. Dr. med. Amanda S. Bruce from the University of Kansas recently published his findings in the "Journal of Pediatrics".

Reward system in the brain is activated
Researchers have investigated whether commercials can alter eating habits and brain activity during eating. In the study, 23 children between the ages of eight and 14 years were asked to rate 60 foods according to taste and health, after watching commercials with and without food.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study children's brain activity while selecting food. It turned out that the film sequences with food products primarily activated the reward system in the brain.

Influencing the taste preferences
In addition, the commercials influenced the tastes of the children. According to the researchers, the taste of the food became more and more important for the little ones after they had advertised food. According to a report on the internet portal "medicalnewstoday", the authors of the study say that it makes "even more difficult to encourage children to eat healthy food".

Children's foods are often unhealthy
Most so-called "children's foods" are already too fatty and too sweet with their high fat, sugar or salt content anyway. According to the scientists, the commercials had a big impact on the reward centers of the brain, especially when the children were hungry.

An older study showed that body weight also plays a role in the influence of advertising. Austrian researchers found in an investigation that overweight children are more prone to advertising. (Ad)