WASHINGTON - Children in the United States are bombarded with television ads for foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt, a study published Tuesday showed.
Researchers at the University of Chicago watched nearly 100,000 30-second advertisements for food products including breakfast cereals, snacks, sweets and drinks, that were aired on television during programs watched by two- to 17-year-olds.
The long-term study showed that 97.8 percent of the food product ads seen by children aged between two and 11 were high in fat, sugar and sodium, or salt.
The older, 12 to 17-year-old age group faired only marginally better, with nearly 90 percent of ads targeting them for foods of poor nutritional quality.
Nearly half the ads targeting both age groups were for products that were high in sugar.
And nearly all the breakfast cereal advertisements for pre-teen children were for high-sugar products.
The study was undertaken "in the light of the high rates of child and adolescent obesity" in the United States.
Childhood obesity increased more than three-fold in the United States between 1978 and 2004, a study published last month showed.
"Today's children are likely to be the first generation to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. Approximately 25 million children are already obese or overweight," the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) said in its fourth annual "F as in Fat" report.
kdz/sg
09/04/2007 19:23 GMT