Following on from my previous
post, I will examine the roles that television, food
advertising, and junk food play in childhood obesity.
The obesity epidemic has attracted attention at all
levels, from general
media to policy and
practice from health and other professionals, including urban designers and
planners, wanting to shape the New Zealand environment, in order
to support healthful benefits. However, recent research has identified that New
Zealand has in fact got characteristics of an ‘obesogenic’ environment; obesogenic being defined as “...the
sum of influences that the surroundings, opportunities,
or conditions of life have on promoting obesity
in individuals or populations” (Swinburn & Egger, 2002, p. 5). Carter and
Swinburn (2004) have discovered, through their studies that the obesogenic food
environment in New Zealand continues to grow,
particularly in
schools, where children
learn about many things, including life skills like healthy eating; so, is
the healthy eating education happening?
Utter, Schaaf, Ni Mhurchu,
and Scragg (2007), through the conduction of their studies, have found an
association between school
canteen use and more
frequent consumption
of various high fat, salt, and
sugary (HFSS) foods. These HFSS
foods include soft-drinks, fruit juices, hot chips, hamburgers,
sausage
sizzles, and more. Utter
et al. (2007) also established that students using the canteen were less likely
to consume some healthier foods supplied, such as the fruits and vegetables, compared to students who did not use
the canteen. This research suggests and supports the fact that the obesogenic
food environment is being strengthened
by the increase of HFSS foods which appear to be in school canteens
(Carter & Swinburn, 2004; Utter et al. 2007).
Although all HFSS foods
consumed by children in schools are unhealthy, I think that the unhealthiest HFFS food would have to be the soft-drinks. Poulter (2013) from Mail Online
states that “A single can
of Coke equates to 35g of sugar, the same as three-and-a-half
lollipops or one and-a-quarter packs of Wine Gums” (para. 1). Thus equating to 114 calories, a child consuming a can of Coke,
would have to do 20 minutes
of physical activity, that’s just for one can of Coke – never mind all the other
HFSS foods they consume along with the Coke, like a packet of chips or a
sausage. Furthermore,
schools are also supplying diet soft-drinks which not only contain sugar, but also
copious amounts of
caffeine, which Green Party health spokeswoman Sue Kedgley is
disgusted by. Johnston (2006) carries Kedgley complaint “...of children
continuing to be exposed
to the caffeine, acids
and artificial
sweeteners like aspartame in diet drinks” (para. 5). These diet
drinks also include “...phosphoric
acid, citric acid, caffeine and the sweetener
acesulphame potassium” (Johnston, 2006, para. 7). Health professionals agree with
Kedgley’s concerns, however the soft-drink industry does not; this is a scary thought; do they not care for the
health and well-being
of children? Considering
this, I strongly agree with Kedgley, as all the ingredients found in these
soft-drinks have detrimental effects
on the whole body, for instance, dental decay (Marshall et al. 2003), and of
course obesity and weight-related diseases (Ludwig, Peterson, & Gortmaker,
2001), which any child, in my opinion, should not be experiencing.
Looking now at the effects of
food
advertising and television
on obesity in childhood, a Dunedin multidisciplinary study found that factors
like television viewing
and shorter
sleep time in childhood were
strongly associated with obesity in young adulthood (Hancox, Milne,
& Poulton, 2004). In support of this, Carter and Swinburn (2004) conducted
research on the television
advertising of HFSS foods
during
children’s viewing hours
(Maher, Wilson, & Signal, 2005). Their research suggested that television
advertising during this time was predominantly for foods such as sweets, fizzy drinks, and unhealthy
snacks (HFSS
foods) (Carter &
Swinburn, 2004; Hammond, Wyllie, & Casswell, 1999; Consumers International,
2008; McClean & Knowles, 1992). Additionally, these HFSS foods are consumed
on a daily basis, therefore contributing to the overweight and obese
generation of children that are seen in our
world today. Ministry of Health (2012) agrees, suggesting that “High intakes of many of [HFSS] foods are
associated with overweight and obesity” (p. 18). This daily consumption of junk
foods is one of the direct effects
that television and food advertising is having on children (Halford &
Boyland, 2012). Graham (2004) concurs, stating that “Eating too much junk food and watching too much television are two
major causes for obesity. And when children sit
in front of the TV, they are more likely to snack and also to see
advertisements for food products...” encouraging them to want the foods they
see, even though they may
not be hungry (para. 7). Boyse (2011) supports
Graham (2004), confirming that children who watch copious amounts of television
(more
than seven hours per week)
have an increased risk of being overweight or obese during their childhood,
and more likely to be overweight or obese as adults (Consumers International,
2008). Current research also proposes that the effects of food advertising, via
media, can influence a child’s preferences,
requests, and consumption
of food, to the detriment
of a healthy diet (Hastings, Stead, McDermott, Forsyth, & MacKintosh,
2003). I, therefore, agree, as I have seen this type of behaviour both within my own
family, as well as in my friend’s families – food advertising is a manipulative tool that companies use to make money.
Moreover Roberts and Foehr
(2004) state that “Children aged over six years
old today spend an average of five-and-a-half hours a day using media [this is] more time than they spend doing
anything else besides sleeping” (as cited in Kaiser Foundation, 2005, p.
1). Studies have also proven that even children under the age
of six spend a similar amount of time
interacting with media, more than they do playing outside (Rideout, Vandewater,
Wartella & Kaiser Family Foundation, 2003). Putting this into perspective,
on average, one child will see approximately 20,000 advertisements on television each year; that’s approximately 55 per day. This figure does not even include
the millions of adverts they see on billboards and posters in their communities
each year. Interestingly, Dr. Amanda S Bruce and her colleagues conducted a study assessing 10 healthy weight children and 10
obese children, aged 10-14 years. Children were shown 60 food logos and 60
non-food logos;
functional magnetic resonance imaging scans indicated which sections of the
brain reacted
to certain familiar logos
being shown. Results discovered that the 10 obese children displayed more brain activity in the reward regions, than the 10 healthy weight children.
However, according to Nauert (2012) the “Healthy weight children showed greater brain activation in
regions of the brain associated with self-control, when shown food versus non-food logos” (para. 11). This
adds to the body of research showing that in certain situations healthy weight individuals experience greater
activation of self-control regions of the brain than obese individuals. Nauert
(2012) also confirms that this study, that used “...brain imaging,
discovered that brain
activity in [overweight
and] obese
children is accelerated when
shown food logos” (para.
1). Results therefore suggest that overweight and obese children may be more vulnerable to the effects of food advertising.
Hammond, Wyllie, and Casswell
(1999) propose that “There has been international concern over the balance of television
advertising for healthy
and less-healthy foods to
which children and adolescents are exposed” (p.
49). A recent longitudinal study supports this, suggesting that television viewing as a child is significantly
associated with higher
body-mass indices and raised serum cholesterol (Hancox,
Milne, & Poulton, 2004; Boyse, 2011). In other words, the advertising of
junk food on television contributes
highly to obesity in
children, leading to obesity
in their lives as adults
(Consumers International, 2008).
Furthermore, as obesity in
childhood is highly visible in New Zealand, early childhood settings are also
in danger of being labelled as contributing to the obesity epidemic which is now
seen in more and more children. Early childhood settings therefore have policies set in place in order to monitor and control obesity in their own
early childhood settings. These policies are thereby influenced by the government and other government
funded organisations (Ministry of Health, 2003). Coverage of this was seen in
my previous blog post: ‘Legislation in place to curb obesity in early childhood
settings in Aotearoa, New Zealand’.
Moreover, as childhood obesity is so prevalent in New Zealand, early childhood
teachers therefore need to be aware of the pedagogical implications that may arise when dealing with, not
only overweight and obese children, but also with healthy weight children. This
will be the topic of my next
blog post entry:
Pedagogical Implications for early childhood teachers.
References:
Broadcasting Standards
Authority. (2008). Seen
and heard: Children’s media use, exposure, and response. Wellington, New
Zealand: Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Bruce, A. S., Lepping, R. J.,
Bruce, J. M., Cherry, J. B., C., Martin, L. E., Davis, A. M., ... Savage, C. R.
(n.d). Brain responses to food logos in obese and healthy weight children. The
Journal Of Pediatrics. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.10.003
Carter, M. A., & Swinburn,
B. (2004). Measuring the ‘obesogenic’ food environment in New Zealand primary
schools. Health
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Hammond, K., Wyllie, A., &
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