Television, school canteens, food advertising...are we aware?

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: 

Boyse, K. (2011). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved from http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/obesity.html 

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

Burns, J. (n.d.). 15 ways to get your kids to eat better. Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/kids/nutrition/healthy-eating/get-your-kids-to-eat-better/  

Carter, M. A., & Swinburn, B. (2004). Measuring the ‘obesogenic’ food environment in New Zealand primary schools. Health Promotion International, 19(1), 15-20. doi:10.1093/heapro/dah103.

Consumers International. (2008). The junk food trap. Retrieved from www.consumersinternational.org/media/540310/junk_food_trap.pdf  

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Graham, J. (2004). Children, television, and screen time. Retrieved from http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/4100e/

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Hastings, G., Stead, M., McDermott, L., Forsyth, A., & MacKintosh, A. M. (2003). Review of research on the effects of food promotion to children: Final report prepared for the Food Standards Agency. Glasgow, Scotland: Centre for Social Marketing.

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