Junk food is a significant contributor to the skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Children are exposed to food advertising – including junk food commercials – multiple times a day. Researchers have found that these advertisements directly influence children’s food choices and brain activity, and they may be a factor in overeating and the associated health risks.
The food industry spends around $1.8 billion a year marketing products to children and adolescents. Children between the ages of 2-5 years are estimated to view more than 1,000 advertisements per year, and teenagers almost 2,000.

Food marketing is cited as a substantial environmental factor in food choices and overeating, and, as a result, obesity, and TV advertising and branding have been shown to affect both food familiarity and preference.

Previous research indicates that children who view advertisements are more likely to prefer branded foods than children not exposed to advertisements. Behavioral studies have reported an association between receptivity to food commercials and the amount of food consumed.

Other studies have observed that children who are overweight may be more responsive to food branding and, as a result, are at a greater risk of being influenced by marketing. Research has demonstrated a relationship between marketing junk foods and an increased risk of childhood obesity.

A previous study by lead study author Amanda S. Bruce, Ph.D., assistant professor of behavioral pediatrics at the University of Kansas Medical Center, documented individual differences in brain activation in response to food advertising cues, such as fast food brand logos.


http://www.istylmagazine.com/lifestyle/health/food-commercials-change-childrens-eating-priorities/