TV and children's eating habits
25 Apr 2007
Obese children can be encouraged by television advertising to eat more, say scientists at the University of Liverpool. In a sample of 60 children aged 9 to 11 the researchers found the overweight ones ate 101 per cent more, and normal weight children 84 per cent more, after they were shown a series of food and toy ads, followed by a cartoon. Dr Jason Halford, director of the university?s Kissileff Human Ingestive Behaviour Laboratory, says the results confirm that advertising has a profound effect on all children’s eating habits. The study was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Budapest.