Abstract
ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE To analyze the association of television food advertisements with eating habits in Brazilian adolescents.METHODS The sample was composed of 1,011 adolescents, aged from 10–17 years. The influence of television food advertisements on eating habits, as well as food consumption and socioeconomic variables were assessed through questionnaires. A binary logistic regression was performed to assess the magnitude of the associations, adjusted for gender, age, socioeconomic status, and parental schooling.RESULTS Of the sample, 83.3% (n = 843) reported food consumption while watching TV. Adolescents who do not consume food while watching TV had a higher weekly consumption of fruits (3.98, SD = 2.0 versus 3.39, SD = 2.1) and vegetables (4.1, SD = 2.2 versus 3.4, SD = 2.3). Adolescents that consume food while watching TV had higher weekly consumption of fried foods (3.1, SD = 2.0 versus 2.3, SD = 1.7), sweets (4.1, SD = 2.1 versus 3.3, SD = 2.1), soft drinks (3.2, SD = 2.1 versus 2.2, SD = 1.9), and snacks (2.3, SD = 2.0 versus 1.6, SD = 1.7). For 73,8% of the sample, food advertisements induce product consumerism, most commonly sweets and fast foods. Buying or asking to buy food after seeing it on the television was associated with fried foods (OR = 1.36, 95%CI = 1.03– 1.79), sweets (OR = 1.69, 95%CI = 1.30–2.18), and snacks (OR = 1.57, 95%CI = 1.12–2.22).CONCLUSION Food advertisements were associated with greater consumption of fried foods, sweets, and snacks in adolescents, even after adjusting for confounding factors.
Highlights
Healthy habits in childhood tend to remain during adult life and contribute to prevent comorbidities like obesity and cardiovascular diseases[1]
Food advertisements were associated with greater consumption of fried foods, sweets, and snacks in adolescents, even after adjusting for confounding factors
Unhealthy food intake is linked to impulsivity[5] and the observed positive correlation of frequency of advertised foods on television and its consumption suggests an influence of television advertisements exposure on food choices[6]
Summary
Healthy habits in childhood tend to remain during adult life and contribute to prevent comorbidities like obesity and cardiovascular diseases[1]. A considerable portion of the worldwide population presents overweight or obesity, closely related to the public health problem of inappropriate nutrition[2]. Obesity has a multifactorial cause-genetic factors, environmental influences and lifestyle behavior[3] the most frequently reported reasons to justify the association between nutrition and obesity are excessive consumption of energy-dense foods[4]. Unhealthy food intake is linked to impulsivity[5] and the observed positive correlation of frequency of advertised foods on television and its consumption suggests an influence of television advertisements exposure on food choices[6]. Unhealthy eating habits has been related to iron and vitamins A and C deficiencies[8], which may lead to physical growth and intellectual activity impairment, as well as higher risk of morbidity and mortality[9], being a public health issue even in those not obese
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