Just watching five minutes of advertising of junk foods can lead to children eating significantly more calories in a day, a new study has revealed.
The study showed that children between the ages of seven and 15 consumed an average of 130 calories more after they were shown or played with minutes of junk food adverts. The research also studied their response after they saw or heard non-food adverts.
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After this, they were offered snacks like grapes or chocolate buttons, and then lunch with a range of sweet, savoury and healthy foods. Researchers found out that the children consumed 58 calories more in snacks and 73 calories more for lunch after exposure to non-food ads.
The study, which will be presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Málaga, Spain, also found that the impact on calorie intake was the same for both specific foods adverts and generic adverts for fast food brands. It also noted that the type of adverts did not make a difference in the findings.
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What researcher says
“This is the first study to show that brand-only food advertising affects what children eat,” said Emma Boyland, the lead author of the study and professor of food marketing and child health at the University of Liverpool.
“We also showed that children don’t just eat more immediately following food advertising, they actually ate more at the lunch meal as well, a couple of hours after they had seen the advertising,” she added.
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Boyland said, “The foods that we served them weren’t the same foods that were shown in the advertisements and were presented with no branding information. So it wasn’t that they were driven to buy the particular food or go and consume fast food, it was just a prompt to consume what was available.”
Experts reveal loophole in UK ban on junk food adverts
The United Kingdom recently proposed a ban on junk food advertising on television from 5:30 am to 9 pm from October 2025, with a complete ban on paid-for online advertising in a bid to tackle growing obesity in the country. However, experts have highlighted a loophole in the government’s plan.
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Katharine Jenner, the director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said the research must send “a clear message to policymakers: food advertising is driving excess calorie intake in children”.
“From October, new restrictions will limit unhealthy food adverts on TV before 9pm and online at any time – a vital step forward that will protect children from the worst offenders,” she added.
“But loopholes remain. Brands will still be able to advertise to young people even without showing specific products, on billboards and at bus stops, and children living with overweight or obesity are especially vulnerable,” she said. “If the government is serious about ending junk food advertising to children, they must close the loopholes that will allow companies to keep bombarding them.”
Watch | UK Government’s Restriction On Junk Food Advertisements Before 9 PM