It's more than couch potato syndrome that packs on the pounds while you're watching TV. It's those pesky ads, too.
A group of researchers at Yale University recently published findings that food advertising on television increases automatic snacking on available foods in both children and adults.
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Adult participants exposed to unhealthy food ads on TV ate significantly more than those who saw ads with a healthy food message, and the effects lasted beyond the television viewing.
Among children, seven- to 11-year-olds who watched a cartoon that included food commercials ate 45 percent more snack food while watching the show than children who watched the same cartoon with non-food commercials. This alone is enough for a 10 pound a year weight gain unless mitigated by reduced consumption of other food or increased physical activity.
Lead author Jennifer Harris, PhD, Director of Marketing Initiatives at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale said, “Food advertising triggers automatic eating, regardless of hunger, and is a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic. Reducing unhealthy food advertising to children is critical.”
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Comments
The Baskin Robbins ice cake commercial makes me want to run out and get an ice cream cake. But getting dressed and driving to the store keeps me from doing that. Will the influence from the ads determine what I buy at the grocery store?
This certainly includes commercials for colas and beer. It's automatic: see the commercial- go to refrigerator and get one. Not good at all!
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