Researchers from University of Illinois in Chicago Institute for Health Research and Policy received 2.2 million dollars federal funding to verify if food advertising on television is affecting children’s diet and weight, as well as their physical activity.
Watching television is also possible giving contribution to obesity since children are inactive and likely to snack when they are watching television.
This research will be able to provide valuable information to policymakers and also public-health advocates regarding potential effectiveness of controlling television food advertising to children and using television media campaigns as a policy tools for improving these health outcomes.
Previous research illustrate that 98% of food product advertisement watched by children from ages 2 until 11, and 89% of those viewed by adolescents ages 12 to 17, were for foods high in fat, sugar or sodium.
The current study is the first to combine food, beverage and restaurant ad ratings and nutritional data with individual data on obesity to analyze the relationship between product exposure, nutritional content of ad exposure, and food consumption, diet quality and obesity, according to the researchers.
The research will also investigate relationship between health promotion advertisement (those which encouraging fruit and vegetable consumption or exercising regularly) and personal behaviors correlated with weight outcomes, diet and also activity.
By measuring the types of ads that children of different ages and races are exposed to, the researchers hope to be able to determine if advertising practices and television viewing patterns contribute to differences in diet and obesity among white and black children.
This research will hopefully play a vital part to determine if firmer rule might be required regarding food advertisement on children’s television programs.
UIC is one of the nation’s foremost research universities. UIC is also Chicago’s biggest university including 26.000 students, 15 faculties, employing 12.000 faculty’s staff. It is also the state’s foremost public medical facility.