TV ad ban 'can reduce obesity'
A ban on the television advertising of fast-food restaurants to children would cut the number of overweight children aged three to 11 in America by 18 per cent, a new study claims.
Researchers at City University of New York also estimate that a ban would reduce the number of overweight adolescents by 14 per cent.
The research team used statistical models to link obesity rates to the amount of time spent viewing fast-food advertising. They found that, for boys aged three to 11, increasing their exposure to fast food advertising by half an hour per week increased the probability of being overweight by 2.2 per cent, which would work out to a 15 per cent increase in the number of overweight boys in a fixed population. The corresponding figures for girls were 1.6 per cent, or a 12 per cent rise in the number of overweight girls within a population.
The report said that the true impact of fast-food advertising on obesity levels might be even greater, as the research focused only on local television channels and ignored national network and cable channels.
Dr David Haslam, clinical director of the UK's National Obesity Forum, said, 'I am wary about taking figures like these at face value, as there are many other factors that could be involved. For example, if a young child is watching an extra half an hour of junk-food television advertising per week, does that mean the child is spending an extra half an hour being sedentary, sitting in front of the television?
'While I support restrictions on junk-food advertising to children, it's important that people don't think it's the only factor in curbing obesity. There are many other areas we need to concentrate on, such as school food and physical activity.'
Further information
'Fast-Food Restaurant Advertising on Television and its Influence on Childhood Obesity, is published in the November issue of The Journal of Law and Economics.
