TV junk ads make teens ‘eat an extra burger’ or scoff up to 270 extra calories a week, study claims
Study says kids who watched seven ads ate the equivalent of a McDonald's burger more than those who saw six
EACH junk food TV ad a child sees adds up to 270 calories a week to their diet, a study says.
Kids who watched seven ads ate the equivalent of a McDonald’s burger more than those who saw six.
This would be more than 14,000 calories over a whole year — equal to 84 Mars bars or around 6lb of weight gain.
Junk food ads are banned from kids’ programmes but are shown during family-friendly broadcasts such as reality TV shows and sport.
The X Factor is sponsored by fast food app JustEat and Cadbury is the Premier League’s official snack.
Official figures show a record one in five children now leaves primary school overweight — up 14 per cent in a decade.
Boffins from Cancer Research UK and the University of Stirling quizzed 3,348 youngsters on their TV and eating habits.
Obese kids saw about 45 minutes more TV a day than those of a healthy weight.
Researcher Dr Jyotsna Vohra said: “If a young person remembers one extra advert a week, on top of the average for a healthy teen, it equates to 270 extra calories eaten per week.
“A 9pm watershed for junk food adverts would reduce children’s exposure to persistent advertising by the junk food industry and help cut back the craving for unhealthy food.”
