Non-food Commercials Research Articles

Genetic associations with neural reward responsivity to food cues in children.

To test associations of candidate obesity-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and obesity polygenic risk scores (PRS) with neural reward reactivity to food cues. After consuming a pre-load meal, 9-12-year-old children completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm with exposure to food and non-food commercials. Genetic exposures included FTO rs9939609, MC4R rs571312, and a pediatric-specific obesity PRS. A targeted region-of-interest (ROI) analysis for 7 bilateral reward regions and a whole-brain analysis were conducted. Independent associations between each genetic factor and reward responsivity to food cues in each ROI were evaluated using linear models. Analyses included 151 children (M = 10.9 years). Each FTO rs9939609 obesity risk allele was related to a higher food-cue-related response in the right lateral hypothalamus after controlling for covariates including the current BMI Z-score (p < 0.01), however, the association did not remain significant after applying the multiple testing correction. MC4R rs571312 and the PRS were not related to heightened food-cue-related reward responsivity in any examined regions. The whole-brain analysis did not identify additional regions of food-cue-related response related to the examined genetic factors. Children genetically at risk for obesity, as indicated by the FTO genotype, may be predisposed to higher food-cue-related reward responsivity in the lateral hypothalamus in the sated state, which, in turn, could contribute to overconsumption. https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03766191, identifier NCT03766191.

Delicious and difficult to resist?: Inhibitory control differs in young women after exposure to food and non-food commercials

Unhealthy food marketing, a ubiquitous food stimulus, may impact response inhibition, making it more difficult to maintain healthy eating behaviors. Individuals with disordered eating may be particularly susceptible to altered inhibition responses to food stimuli, making them more vulnerable to unhealthy food marketing, which could perpetuate their disordered eating behaviors. The present study examined response inhibition following exposure to food commercials in young women who reported either high levels of disordered eating (HEC) or low/no disordered eating (LEC) (N = 27; age: M = 19.28, SD = 1.01) by measuring event related potentials (ERPs) during a stop-signal task embedded with food stimuli. Results indicated that participants had significantly higher accuracy on stop trials displaying unhealthy food stimuli than trials displaying healthy food stimuli after viewing non-food commercials but displayed no difference after viewing food commercials. LEC individuals displayed a smaller N200/P300 amplitude in response to food stimuli on the stop-signal task after watching food commercials as compared to non-food commercials, but this difference did not exist for HEC individuals. Results indicate that unhealthy food commercials may impact behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of response inhibition evoked by food stimuli in young women, and individuals with disordered eating might actually be less responsive to food marketing than those without disordered eating.

Brain responses to watching food commercials compared with nonfood commercials: a meta-analysis on neuroimaging studies.

This study aimed to identify and meta-analyse the neuroimaging data and hence synthesise a brain map showing the neural correlates of watching food commercials. Published studies were retrieved and included into the analysis if they evaluated brain responses to food commercials with functional MRI and reported results based on whole-brain analysis in standard brain coordinates. No additional restriction was placed on the search, such as the publication year and age of participants. Seven papers that composed of a total of 442 participants fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All of them recruited children or adolescents. Food commercials caused larger brain responses than nonfood counterparts in the cuneus on both hemispheres, which played a role in dietary self-control and modulation of food craving. Other brain regions involved in food commercials processing included the left culmen, left middle occipital gyrus and the right superior parietal lobule, which could be related to reward, emotional responses and habit formation. These neural correlates may help explain the food choice and eating behaviours of children and adolescents that might be relevant to the development of obesity.

Binge eating, but not dietary restraint, moderates the association between unhealthy food marketing exposure and sugary food consumption

Restrained eaters, those who exercise dietary restraint and often experience dietary lapses, may be particularly susceptible to food marketing. Findings are mixed as to whether restrained eaters consume more food after exposure to unhealthy food marketing, and little is known about whether food marketing may have more impact on those who exercise successful dietary restraint as compared with those who experience dietary lapses, such as binge eating. In the current study, participants were 38 young women, ages 18–22 years old. Both dietary restraint and binge eating were measured by the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire. Participants viewed both unhealthy food commercials and non-food commercials two separate times in the laboratory, and ad libitum candy intake was subsequently measured. Results indicated that participants who endorsed binge eating ate significantly more candy than those who did not endorse binge eating after they viewed unhealthy food commercials F (1, 35) = 20.49, p < .001, η2 = 0.37, but not after viewing non-food commercials. No significant differences in candy eaten emerged when comparing those who endorsed dietary restraint as compared to those who did not, regardless of commercial type. Findings demonstrate the importance of specific operational definitions of restrained eating to consider the differences between those who report binge eating, and those who do not. They also suggest that individuals who engage in binge eating may be particularly susceptible to overeating in response to unhealthy food marketing, marking a possible area for intervention.

Neural response to fast food commercials in adolescents predicts intake

Food advertising is a major contributor to obesity, and fast food (FF) restaurants are top advertisers. Research on the impact of food advertising in adolescents is lacking and no prior research has investigated neural predictors of food intake in adolescents. Neural systems implicated in reward could be key to understanding how food advertising drives food intake. To investigate how neural responses to both unhealthy and healthier FF commercials predict food intake in adolescents. A cross-sectional sample of 171 adolescents (aged 13-16 y) who ranged from normal weight to obese completed an fMRI paradigm where they viewed unhealthy and healthier FF and nonfood commercials. Adolescents then consumed a meal in a simulated FF restaurant where foods of varying nutritional profiles (unhealthy compared with healthier) were available. Greater neural activation in reward-related regions (nucleus accumbens, r=0.29; caudate nucleus, r= 0.27) to unhealthy FF commercials predicted greater total food intake. Greater responses to healthier FF relative to nonfood commercials in regions associated with reward (i.e., nucleus accumbens, r=0.24), memory (i.e., hippocampus, r=0.32), and sensorimotor processes (i.e., anterior cerebellum, r=0.33) predicted greater total food and unhealthier food intake, but not healthier food intake. Lower activation in neural regions associated with visual attention and salience (e.g., precuneus, r = -0.35) to unhealthy relative to healthier FF commercials predicted healthier food intake. These findings suggest that FF commercials contribute to overeating in adolescents through reward mechanisms. The addition of healthier commercials from FF restaurants is unlikely to encourage healthier food intake, but interventions that reduce the ability of unhealthy FF commercials to capture attention could be beneficial. However, an overall reduction in the amount of FF commercials exposure for adolescents is likely to be the most effective approach.

Reactivity to television food commercials in overweight and lean adults: Physiological, cognitive and behavioural responses

Recent evidence indicates that acute exposure to food advertising increases food intake. However, little research to date has explored the potential mechanisms underpinning this, such as the extent to which food commercials elicit conditioned physiological responses (e.g. increased salivation). The aim of the current study was to examine salivary, cognitive and consumptive responses to televised food commercials in overweight (N=26) and lean (N=29) adult females. Participants attended two laboratory sessions in a counterbalanced order; in one session they viewed a television show with embedded commercials for unhealthy foods, and in the other session they viewed the same show with non-food commercials. In both conditions, following viewing participants were exposed to an in vivo food cue (freshly cooked pizza) which they were then invited to eat ad libitum. Salivation was measured at baseline, during commercial exposure, and during in vivo exposure. Participants also self-reported components of appetite on visual analogue scales and completed a word stem task. Results indicated little evidence of increased salivary reactivity to the food commercials. In both conditions, lean participants showed reliable salivary responses to the in vivo food cue. In contrast, overweight participants only showed increased salivation to the in vivo cue in the food commercials condition. Food commercial exposure did not increase the number of food-related cognitions or amount of food consumed, but did drive a greater increase in desire to eat prior to pizza consumption than exposure to the control commercials. Exposure to food advertising primes eating-related motivations, and while it may not be associated with increased intake or salivation per se, non-food commercials may attenuate subsequent physiological responses to actual food cues in overweight individuals.

The Influence of Televised Food Commercials on Children's Food Choices: Evidence from Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activations

To investigate how food commercials influence children's food choices. Twenty-three children ages 8-14 years provided taste and health ratings for 60 food items. Subsequently, these children were scanned with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging while making food choices (ie, "eat" or "not eat") after watching food and nonfood television commercials. Our results show that watching food commercials changes the way children consider the importance of taste when making food choices. Children did not use health values for their food choices, indicating children's decisions were largely driven by hedonic, immediate rewards (ie, "tastiness"); however, children placed significantly more importance on taste after watching food commercials compared with nonfood commercials. This change was accompanied by faster decision times during food commercial trials. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a reward valuation brain region, showed increased activity during food choices after watching food commercials compared with after watching nonfood commercials. Overall, our results suggest watching food commercials before making food choices may bias children's decisions based solely on taste, and that food marketing may systematically alter the psychological and neurobiologic mechanisms of children's food decisions.

Individual Differences in Reward and Somatosensory-Motor Brain Regions Correlate with Adiposity in Adolescents.

The prevalence of adolescent obesity has increased dramatically over the past three decades, and research has documented that the number of television shows viewed during childhood is associated with greater risk for obesity. In particular, considerable evidence suggests that exposure to food marketing promotes eating habits that contribute to obesity. The present study examines neural responses to dynamic food commercials in overweight and healthy-weight adolescents using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Compared with non-food commercials, food commercials more strongly engaged regions involved in attention and saliency detection (occipital lobe, precuneus, superior temporal gyri, and right insula) and in processing rewards [left and right nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)]. Activity in the left OFC and right insula further correlated with subjects' percent body fat at the time of the scan. Interestingly, this reward-related activity to food commercials was accompanied by the additional recruitment of mouth-specific somatosensory-motor cortices-a finding that suggests the intriguing possibility that higher-adiposity adolescents mentally simulate eating behaviors and offers a potential neural mechanism for the formation and reinforcement of unhealthy eating habits that may hamper an individual's ability lose weight later in life.

Individual differences in striatum activity to food commercials predict weight gain in adolescents.

ObjectiveAdolescents view thousands of food commercials annually, but little is known about how individual differences in neural response to food commercials relate to weight gain. To add to our understanding of individual risk factors for unhealthy weight gain and environmental contributions to the obesity epidemic, we tested the associations between reward region (striatum and orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]) responsivity to food commercials and future change in Body Mass Index (BMI).Design and MethodsAdolescents (N = 30) underwent a scan session at baseline while watching a television show edited to include 20 food commercials and 20 non-food commercials. BMI was measured at baseline and 1-year follow-up.ResultsActivation in the striatum, but not OFC, in response to food commercials relative to non-food commercials and in response to food commercials relative to the television show was positively associated with change in BMI over 1-year follow-up. Baseline BMI did not moderate these effects.ConclusionsThe results suggest that there are individual differences in neural susceptibility to food advertising. These findings highlight a potential mechanism for the impact of food marketing on adolescent obesity.

Relation of obesity to neural activation in response to food commercials

Adolescents view thousands of food commercials annually, but the neural response to food advertising and its association with obesity is largely unknown. This study is the first to examine how neural response to food commercials differs from other stimuli (e.g. non-food commercials and television show) and to explore how this response may differ by weight status. The blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging activation was measured in 30 adolescents ranging from lean to obese in response to food and non-food commercials imbedded in a television show. Adolescents exhibited greater activation in regions implicated in visual processing (e.g. occipital gyrus), attention (e.g. parietal lobes), cognition (e.g. temporal gyrus and posterior cerebellar lobe), movement (e.g. anterior cerebellar cortex), somatosensory response (e.g. postcentral gyrus) and reward [e.g. orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)] during food commercials. Obese participants exhibited less activation during food relative to non-food commercials in neural regions implicated in visual processing (e.g. cuneus), attention (e.g. posterior cerebellar lobe), reward (e.g. ventromedial prefrontal cortex and ACC) and salience detection (e.g. precuneus). Obese participants did exhibit greater activation in a region implicated in semantic control (e.g. medial temporal gyrus). These findings may inform current policy debates regarding the impact of food advertising to minors.

Gender Role Portrayal in Television Advertisement: Evidence from Pakistan

This study aims to observe the gender role portrayal in food and non-food television advertisement in Pakistan, in order to find out gender discrimination (if any) and association of gender with different content variables. Content analysis of selected TV commercials was used to fulfill the purpose of this study. Services of two independent coders (business graduates) were utilized to code content variables for a sample of 103 commercials (54 food and 49 non-food commercials). Based on the extant literature, seven content variables were selected for this study including: main product user, voiceover, primary character, end comment, soundtrack level, activity level and aggression level. The gender role portrayals in both food and non-food commercials have been compared and discussed. There exists gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement, where males dominate more. The reason behind this phenomenon is expected to lie in social and cultural values. This male dominance is higher in food advertisement as compared to non-food advertisement. Results also favor the association of male character with the relatively higher activity and aggression levels in television commercials. The findings of this study are supportive for key players in advertising industry like advertisers and advertising agencies, for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns with respect to gender role. However, more important implication for them is to know about the forces of traditional cultural values and preferences of target audience, for effective planning of the commercials and forecasting their impact. Such knowledge can provide them a better base to assess the need for self-regulation of their advertising campaigns, guiding them towards making more successful commercials. This study reflects the true picture of gender discrimination in Pakistani television advertisement. It has been concluded using a well defined methodology, provides original data for Pakistan and can be considered a good reference for further analysis.

An Evaluation of Food Commercials During Soap Operas

Seventy-two hours of programming from four networks and three time slots was videotaped for later analysis. All taping was done between January and March of 1998. Timing was done with a stop watch and one person reviewed all the commercials for implicit and explicit messages. Of the 1042 total commercials, 25.9% (270) were for food. Per hour there were 11.3 food commercials and 43.4 total commercials. Mean length of food commercials was 23.1 seconds and non-food commercials was 25.3 seconds. Commercials on CBS and ABC averaged longer man on NBC and FOX. Candy/sweets/gum was the product category advertised most frequently in the Soap Opera time slot (18.5% of food commercials). Supplements ranked second appearing in 10.7% of the food commercials and oils/margarine ranked third at 9.6%. The number one explicit message was a reference to the taste of the product. The number one implicit message during Soap Operas was “family/lads like it”, “nutritious/healthy” ranked second, and “gives you energy” ranked third. Television commercials are important in setting eating trends and should be monitored regularly to determine what the public is being told.

The Development of Children's Eating Habits: The Role of Television Commercials

There is growing evidence that the long-term consumption of the typical high-sugar, high-calorie American diet may lead to a variety of health problems. Since the majority of food ads on television are for high-sugar, high-calorie types of foods, researchers have begun investigating the effects of these commercials. A number of self-report, survey, and correlational studies have found that children watch on the average 28 hours of TV a week, see over 11,000 low-nutrition "junk" food ads a year on TV, believe (at the younger ages) that commercials tell the truth, recall the ads, and often request in stores foods that are highly advertised. A series of behavioral/experimental studies conducted at the University of Montana are reported in some detail. The initial stage of the research focused upon the development of a methodology for assessing the impact of commercials upon the actual amounts of foods consumed. Next, a series of studies investigating the effects of low-nutrition, pro-nutrition, and nonfood commercials upon the eating behaviors of children was begun. The results, to date, suggest low-nutrition ads are most effective in increasing total caloric consumption. Additionally, low-nutrition ads seem to affect boys more than girls and are not mediated by cognitive development. Finally, pro-nutrition ads have so far proven ineffective in increasing consumption of pro-nutrition foods. Some of the implications of applying the growing body of empirical literature on children's television to social policy issues are also discussed.

Television commercials and eating behavior of obese and normal-weight women

Without prior knowledge of the purpose of the study, volunteer adolescent and adult female subjects representing obese and normal-weight categories watched a television program that incorporated either food commercials (high-cue) or nonfood commercials (low-cue). During the viewing, subjects had access to a container of small cookies. The provision of a light lunch to all participants minimized differences in preexperiment hunger. As a control for differences in tendency to eat cookies, each subject, prior to television exposure, had access to the cookies in the absence of food-related cues. The number of cookies consumed by each subject under the no-cue and the experimental conditions were counted. Analysis of covariance, with cookie consumption in the no-cue situation as the covariate, revealed that obese subjects ate significantly more cookies than normal-weight subjects when exposed to the high-cue, but not to the low-cue, condition. These data suggest that under some conditions television food commercials stimulate eating in obese subjects.