The food and beverage industry has resolved to self-regulate their marketing to children, but this has not resulted in significant improvement in the marketing of healthier food (i.e., fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat or non-fat milk or dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish and beans) to children.Food and beverage advertising targeted at children influences their product preferences, requests and diet.Other research has found that children who watch more than three hours of television a day are 50 per cent more likely to be obese than children who watch fewer than two hours.Excess weight can be gained by the addition of only 150 calories a day. In very young children, research has found that for every one-hour increase in TV viewing per day, there are higher intakes of sugar-sweetened beverages, fast food, red and processed meat, and overall calories (48.7 kcal/day).Children’s exposure to TV ads for unhealthy food products (i.e., high-calorie, low-nutrient snacks, fast foods and sweetened drinks) are a significant risk factor for obesity.Obesity in children increases the more hours they watch television.Product preferences affect children's product purchase requests and these requests influence parents' purchasing decisions. Product preference has been shown to occur with as little as a single commercial exposure and to strengthen with repeated exposures. Children have a remarkable ability to recall content from the ads to which they have been exposed. Advertising directed at children this young is by its very nature exploitative. Most children under age 6 cannot distinguish between programming and advertising and children under age 8 do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising. Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising for non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity. Today’s children, ages 8 to 18, consume multiple types of media (often simultaneously) and spend more time (44.5 hours per week) in front of computer, television, and game screens than any other activity in their lives except sleeping. Prevention efforts must focus on reducing excess weight gain as children grow up. Obesity in childhood places children and youth at risk for becoming obese as adults and associated poor health such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer. In teens ages 12 to 19, prevalence rates have tripled (5.0% to 17.6%). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled among children ages 2 to 5 (5.0% to 12.4%) and ages 6 to 11 (6.5% to 17.0%). Approximately 20% of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed. The rates of obesity in America’s children and youth have almost tripled in the last quarter century. The childhood obesity epidemic is a serious public health problem that increases morbidity, mortality, and has substantial long term economic and social costs.
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