High-sugar Cereals Research Articles

Household Factors Associated With Home Food Availability Among Latinx Families With Middle School-Aged Children

ObjectivesTo examine household factors associated with home food availability among Latinx families with middle school-aged children.MethodsDyads of Latinx parents and a middle school-aged child enrolled in a trial testing the efficacy of a nutrition-enhanced school-based parenting intervention in a Southwestern metropolitan area. During a baseline home visit, trained research assistants used a culturally-adapted version of the home food inventory to count the number of different types of fruits, vegetables, and sugar-containing food items available in the home. The latter were disaggregated into white bread, high-sugar cereals, prepared and frozen desserts, and sugar-sweetened beverages and candies. Household factors included as independent variables were food insecurity, frequency of family meals, frequency of conversations about healthy eating, and household size. Poisson regression models accounting for clustered data at the school-level were used to assess associations.ResultsOf 108 participating households, 72.2% were food secure, 52.8% had ≥7 weekly family meals, 49.1% had conversations about healthy eating habits almost every day, and the mean household size was 5.4 ± 1.89 people. Households had 7.4 ± 3.0 different types of fruits, 9.9 ± 3.6 different types of vegetables, and 9.1 ± 4.1 different types of sugar-containing foods available. Compared to households where healthy eating conversations happened almost every day, those with fewer conversations had a lower count of fruits (Adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio [AIRR] 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.57–0.98). Compared to food secure households, low and very low food security was associated with a lower count of vegetables (AIRR 0.87, 95% CI 0.76–0.99; and 0.68, 0.56–0.83, respectively), and low food security was associated with a lower count of white bread. Compared to households with ≥7 weekly family meals, the count of all sugar subgroups, except white bread, was lower among households with lower frequency of family meals.ConclusionsResults suggest that household food security and having family conversations around healthy eating habits are two relevant factors that may help improve the availability of fruits and vegetables among Latinx households.Funding SourcesNational Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Posteriori Diet Patterns of Formula-Fed Infants During First 1.5 Years

Abstract Objectives For the first time in American history, the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) focus on the diet patterns of children under age two. Given the importance of nutrition in early life, the present study reports on the longitudinal data-derived diet patterns of a racially diverse group of infants from the age of 0.5 months, when they were exclusively formula fed, until 1.5 years. Methods Weighed/measured diet records were obtained monthly from enrollment (0.5 months) to 1 year, and at 1.5 years during a trial on healthy infants who were randomized to one of two isocaloric commercial infant formulas. Diet records were analyzed using Nutrient Data System for Research from which foods and beverages were assigned to mutually exclusive ‘What We Eat in America’ food categories; each infant's intake was standardized (g/kg body weight) at each age. Principal component analysis and scree plot inspection were used to derive diet patterns; an absolute loading of at least 0.2 indicated food categories highly correlated within a diet pattern. Results Over the first 1.5 years, regardless of randomization, four diet patterns were identified. The diet pattern for the vast majority of infants at 4.5–5.5 months consisted of iron-fortified infant formula. At 6.5–7.5 months, two-thirds of infants began to transition to a first foods diet pattern comprised primarily of infant cereals, fruits, vegetables, grain mixed dishes, and potatoes (not fried). Shortly thereafter, two unique diet patterns containing table foods emerged, such that by 1–1.5 years, the diet patterns for the majority included but were not limited to pizza, high sugar cereal, milk, fried foods, bakery products and vegetables. Conclusions Infant diet patterns emerge and transition rapidly. While the pattern for the majority of infants was infant formula at or before 5.5 months, as recommended, the diet patterns that emerged during the next 6–12 months contained foods that the DGA recommends should be limited (e.g., fried foods) or eliminated (e.g., added sugars) for young children, underscoring the urgent need to focus on diet patterns before 2 years. Funding Sources NIH Grants R01HD072307 and R03HD09408.

Sugar and Sports: Age Differences in Children’s Responses to a High Sugar Cereal Advertisement Portraying Physical Activities

This study experimentally investigated whether exposing children to a television advertisement for a high sugar cereal that depicts physical activities influences their perceptions of the promoted food and activities differently than exposure to an advertisement for the same product without the depiction of physical activities. Children aged 5 to 6 and 10 to 11 years (N = 136) were compared to reveal age differences in responses to this marketing practice. Exposure to the advertisement depicting physical activities had an immediate strengthening effect on all children’s perceptions of the food’s healthfulness as well as younger children’s attitudes toward the product. The ability to recognize juxtaposed beliefs regarding a product’s healthfulness protected children from some of the influence of this marketing strategy.

Sugar as Part of a Balanced Breakfast? What Cereal Advertisements Teach Children About Healthy Eating

Marketing that targets children with energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods is a likely contributor to the childhood obesity crisis. High-sugar ready-to-eat cereals are the packaged food most frequently promoted in child-targeted food advertising on television. The authors combined content analysis of product nutritional quality and messages presented in cereal television advertisements with syndicated data on exposure to those ads. The analysis quantifies children's exposure to specific products and messages that appear in advertisements and compares it with adult exposure. Children viewed 1.7 ads per day for ready-to-eat cereals, and 87% of those ads promoted high-sugar products; adults viewed half as many ads, and ads viewed were equally likely to promote high- and low-sugar cereals. In addition, the messages presented in high-sugar ads viewed by children were significantly more likely to convey unrealistic and contradictory messages about cereal attributes and healthy eating. For example, 91% of high-sugar cereal ads viewed by children ascribed extraordinary powers to these products, and 67% portrayed healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors. Given children's vulnerability to the influence of advertising, the emotional and mixed messages used to promote high-sugar cereals are confusing and potentially misleading.

Marketing Sugary Cereals to Children in the Digital Age: A Content Analysis of 17 Child-Targeted Websites

The Institute of Medicine has warned of the harm of food marketing to children from television to new media channels such as the Internet. The authors identified and analyzed the techniques used to engage children on websites from cereal companies—the third largest food marketer to children. The authors found that top breakfast cereal manufacturers maintain child-oriented websites, using strategies unique to the Internet to capture and maintain children's attention. These include branded engagement techniques such as advergames, videos, site registration, and viral marketing, including inviting friends to join the site. The authors found 3 progressive levels of telepresence on child-targeted cereal websites: sites with more than 1 engaging feature, multiple techniques present on individual pages, and the construction of a virtual world. Using Internet traffic data, the authors confirm that these techniques work: cereal marketers reach children online with lengthier and more sophisticated engagements than are possible with traditional, passive media such as television advertisements or product packaging. Despite the cereal manufacturer's self-regulatory pledge to improve their marketing to children, their marketing practices exploit children's susceptibility to advertising by almost exclusively promoting high-sugar cereals using deeply engaging techniques.

US Food Company Branded Advergames on the Internet: Children's exposure and effects on snack consumption

Public health researchers express concern about branded computer games on food company websites (i.e. advergames) that enable marketers to engage children for unlimited lengths of time to promote calorie-dense nutrient-poor foods. Study 1 examines children's exposure to US food company websites with advergames: 1.2 million children visit these sites every month and spend up to 1 hour per month on some. They primarily promote candy, high-sugar cereals, and fast food. Study 2 demonstrates their potential impact. After playing unhealthy food advergames, children consumed more nutrient-poor snack foods and fewer fruits and vegetables. Children who previously played advergames were affected the most; older and younger children were similarly affected. Advergames encouraging healthy eating did increase fruit and vegetable consumption: however, only one website in our analysis used advergames to promote primarily healthy foods. These findings support the need for restrictions on companies' use of advergames to market nutritionally poor foods to children.

The Mixed Health Messages of Millsberry: A Critical Study of Online Child-Targeted Food Advergaming

This paper offers a critical study of the contradictions of Millsberry.com, a General Mills (GM) advergaming website used to market GM's breakfast cereal brands to children. The paper takes a critical semiotic approach to argue that Millsberry.com sends players contradictory messages about health by simultaneously promoting nutritional wellness and consumption of high-sugar cereals, essentially conflating the two. Players on Millsberry.com create a virtual self (a Buddy) who lives in the fictional town of Millsberry, and a Buddy's health is tracked over time as players make nutritional choices for the Buddy. Health on Millsberry equates to eating from multiple food groups (nutritional balance) and eating only until full (caloric moderation). Yet both of these health messages are essentially undermined by play on the site. Nutritional balance is undermined by both the excessive promotion of high-sugar cereals and the differences between depictions of branded and unbranded foods. Caloric moderation is contradicted by digital advergames that operate on a logic of maximal consumption, by narratives of branded spokescharacters' endless appetites for cereal, and by giveaways of “free” boxes of virtual cereal that can be eaten by the Buddy in a single bite. The study concludes that such mixed messages about nutritional health are highly problematic, particularly given the alarming increase in diet and weight-related diseases among children.

Effects of Serving High-Sugar Cereals on Children's Breakfast-Eating Behavior

To test (1) whether children will consume low-sugar ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals and (2) the effects of serving high- versus low-sugar cereals on the consumption of cereal, refined sugar, fresh fruit, and milk. Using an experimental design, we randomly assigned children (n = 91) who were attending summer day camp to receive a breakfast that included either the choice of 1 of 3 high-sugar cereals (high-sugar condition) or low-sugar cereals (low-sugar condition), as well as low-fat milk, orange juice, bananas, strawberries, and sugar packets. Participants served themselves and completed a background questionnaire after eating. Researchers measured the amount and calories consumed of each food. In both conditions, children reported "liking" or "loving" the cereal they chose. Children in the low-sugar cereal condition consumed, on average, slightly more than 1 serving of cereal (35 g), whereas children in the high-sugar condition consumed significantly more (61 g) and almost twice the amount of refined sugar in total (24.4 vs 12.5 g). Milk and total calories consumed did not differ significantly between conditions, but children in the low-sugar condition were more likely to put fruit on their cereal (54% vs 8%) and consumed a greater portion of total calories from fresh fruit (20% vs 13%). Compared with serving low-sugar cereals, high-sugar cereals increase children's total sugar consumption and reduce the overall nutritional quality of their breakfast. Children will consume low-sugar cereals when offered, and they provide a superior breakfast option.

High-Sugar Cereals for Breakfast

Breakfast is an important meal. It is associated with better overall nutrition and lower body-mass index. The effect of high-sugar cereal on dietary intake at breakfast is unknown, however. Researchers randomized 91 primarily black and Hispanic children (age range, 5–12 years) at three …

Effects of Serving High-Sugar Cereals on Children's Breakfast-Eating Behavior

Effects of Serving High-Sugar Cereals on Children's Breakfast-Eating Behavior

Depiction of Food as Having Drug-like Properties in Televised Food Advertisements Directed at Children: Portrayals as Pleasure Enhancing and Addictive

IntroductionThe purpose of this study was to examine food commercials airing during children's TV programming for portrayals of behaviors associated with substance use, violence, disrespect, and stealing. It was hypothesized that these behaviors would be present and would be more frequent in commercials advertising specific products (e.g., ready-to-eat cereals) than for those advertising restaurants (e.g., fast food). MethodA content analysis of 147 food commercials televised during children's TV programming on U.S. broadcast networks examined commercials for behaviors associated with substance use behavior, physical violence, and other problematic behaviors for children. ResultsCommercials contained depictions of exaggerated pleasure sensation and dependency/addiction, portrayals of physical violence, trickery, thievery/stealing, fighting and taking extreme measures to obtain a food, and treating adults with disrespect. More portrayals appeared in commercials for high-sugar cereals than in those for fast-food restaurants. DiscussionFindings raise concern about the presence of this content in televised food advertisements targeting children and serve to alert pediatric health professionals and other child health advocates to take a closer look at this issue.

Emotional and rational product appeals in televised food advertisements for children: analysis of commercials shown on US broadcast networks

The aggressive advertising and marketing of high caloric food products to children is implicated as a potential causative factor in the childhood obesity epidemic. This study analyzed 147 commercials appearing during children's programming on U.S. broadcast networks for a wide range of potential emotional and rational advertising appeals. The most prominent emotional appeals were fun/happiness and play followed by fantasy/ imagination, social enhancement/peer acceptance, and coolness/hipness. Many of the products used the term ;super-charged' or a similar adjective to describe the powerful taste or other physical properties of the product. More than one-third of all the commercials used a fruit appeal or association. Statements or depictions that a product was healthy or nutritious were quite rare among the commercials. This seems to imply that health and nutrition claims are understood by food marketers to not be salient concerns among children and as such are not a selling point to children. Commercials for high sugar cereal products and fast food restaurants differed in several respects. This study can serve to guide child health care professionals and other child advocates in designing measures that counter food advertising messages directed at children.

Nutritional Content of Television Food Advertisements Seen by Children and Adolescents in the United States

In light of the high rates of child and adolescent obesity, we examined the nutritional content of food advertising seen by American children and adolescents. We drew samples of top-rated television shows by using ratings data to examine the nutritional content for fat, saturated fat, sugar, sodium, and fiber of food-product advertisements seen on television by both children and adolescents. Food products were examined in aggregate and by 5 separate categories that included cereal, sweets, snacks, drinks, and other food products. For 2- to 11-year-olds and 12- to 17-year-olds, respectively, a sample of 50,351 and 47,955 30-second-equivalent food-product advertisements and their related nutritional content were weighted by television ratings data to provide actual exposure measures of the nutritional content of food advertising seen by children and adolescents. Study results showed that 97.8% and 89.4% of food-product advertisements viewed by children 2 to 11 years old and adolescents 12 to 17 years old, respectively, were high in fat, sugar, or sodium. On average, 46.1% and 49.1% of total calories among the products advertised came from sugar in the advertisements seen by these respective age groups. A total of 97.6% of cereal advertisements seen by children 2 to 11 years old were for high-sugar cereals. No substantial differences were found in the nutritional content of advertisements seen by black and white children 2 to 11 years old. However, a slightly higher proportion of food advertisements in general and across all food-product categories seen by black versus white adolescents were for high-sugar products. The overwhelming majority of food-product advertisements seen on television by American children and adolescents are of poor nutritional content.

Food advertisements during children's Saturday morning television programming: Are they consistent with dietary recommendations?

Children in the United States spend more time watching television than they do in any other activity except sleep. Given the number of food commercials to which children are exposed, we thought it would be of interest to examine current food advertising during children's television programs and to assess whether the products advertised are consistent with dietary recommendations for good health. The 52.5 hours of children's Saturday morning television we viewed from five major networks contained 997 commercials selling a product and 68 public service announcements. Of the 564 food advertisements (56.5% of all advertisements), 43.6% advertised foods classified in the fats, oils, and sweet food group. The most frequently advertised product was high-sugar cereals. We found that commercials broadcast during children's Saturday morning programming promote foods predominantly high in fat and/or sugar, many of which have relatively low nutritional value. As such, the diet presented on Saturday morning television is the antithesis of what is recommended for healthful eating for children. We conclude that the issue of television food advertising to young children be revisited on a national level.