One Way To Curb Childhood Obesity
Filed under: Etc. > Media Minute
According to a new study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research - funded by the National Institutes of Health - a ban on fast food advertisements to kids could cut childhood obesity by as much as 18% in ages 3-11 and 14% in ages 12-18.
But, fast food restaurants - of which many have entered voluntarily into a program which requires them to spend 50% of advertising dollars promoting healthy eating and exercise habits - say that government legislation would not make much difference, since it's parents who choose what and where their kids eat.
The study was the first of its kind to seek out what relationship might be between fast food ads and fat kids.
Shin-Yi Chou of Lehigh University, one of the study's authors, said, "We have known for some time that childhood obesity has gripped our culture, but little empirical research has been done that identifies television advertising as a possible cause. Hopefully, this line of research can lead to a serious discussion about the type of policies that can curb America's obesity epidemic."
Because fat kids turn into fat adults - and that's not good for anyone.
i love fast food!!!!!
and damn do i ever love mcd's……
but im a lazy fuck who hates to cook….so there you go
I wouldn't introduce my kids to fast food. They won't crave what they've never had! If parents get fast food for their kids at a young age they're going to want it more often..
Re: ShakeYourkitty – ME TOO! but not McD's
Duh! No shit that garbage causes obesity. Post the next one about how cigarettes cause cancer. Or how alcohol can cause cirrhosis of the liver.
I think that's a great idea. The problem now is getting the children to learn healthy habits now. If you grow up eating crap, then you'll eat crap the rest of your life. Fast food is so horrible for you, but if it's all you know, then it's what you eat.
My family eats fast food twice a week. Pizza on Friday nights (which ends up being lunch or dinner on Saturday too) and McD's or Burger king on Sunday after church - other than that - it's home made food. (OH! And I am 38 years old and I have NEVER eaten a fast food hamburger. They were a 'novelty' and too expensive when I was a child, and as I grew older, they just never sounded or smelled good - hence, nary a whopper or big mac has passed my lips (or even a plain cheeseburger - ew!) Fast food tastes horrible and is too expensive for what it is - it's okay as a 'convienence' but not as everyday fare. JMO
oh I hate Fast Food … French food or Italian food is better
I BET PEREZ WAS EATING LOTS OF FAST FOOD RIGHT PEREZ MOM?????
And I NEVER make my kids eat their french fries - half the time we pitch them or feed them to the birds and squirrels. (we need to stop that - can't have birds falling dead mid-air because of clogged arteries!)
Your kids ask to go to McDonalds, you say no.
They ask for french fries, you say no.
Easy.
Re: Melissa is always right thinks ura TOOL – Really?
Or how about Parents be Parents and tell their kids no once in a while when they ask and cook at home rather than go out.
?????
Re: SweetPat Hates Bronx Mowgli Parents – you gots you a hater in beyonce!
Re: Mr.TwilightGuy – im not picky….ill eat anything if its fried!!!!……lol…….
and yeah….i know…..its horrible for you….blah blah blah…..
but its conveinient and easy…..like me…..
FUCKING GET THEM OFF THE VIDEO GAMES….OFF THE COMPUTER…….
SHIP THEIR ASSES OUTSIDE TO RUN AND PLAY!!!
problem solved.
Re: Melissa is always right thinks ura TOOL – haha I'm ready for some action! Love me some hater!
What someone needs to ban are those damn Happy Meal Toys. I cannot believe environmentalist haven't taken those out yet. Between all the packaging that comes around the toys — plus the stupid toys that end up thrown away within a week… they are horrible!
Re: SWEETPIECE –
Exactly! It's the parent's, the adults fault that children are overweight..who else is feeding them? Duh! Glad someone else thinks so too.
Well just because your kids sees fast food on tv doesn't mean you have to buy it for 'em!parents can say NO!
Really? Geez any idiot could've come up with that. Maybe spend that money and resources on some decent research instead.
i'd kill someone for an in-n-out burger right now..
I call bullshit. I grew up, (along with my childhood friends) watching ads for McDonald's, Pop Tarts, sugar filled cereal, kool-aid, etc. The difference was we played outside all damn day instead of vegetating in front of a damn computer, game system or cell phone. We don't need the government to tell us how to eat. We DO need parents to do their jobs and take some responsibility! OK - off the soapbox now. Thank u.
I was given McDonald's about once a week throughout childhood, I agree, they should be banned….
Heaven forbid parents take some responsibility and not buy fast food for their children.
I think the people AND government are taking this banning shit a bit too far…."ban this, ban that". This isn't China…the US is still a free country.
Fast food should be a once in awhile thing, not daily, bi-weekly, weekly or even monthly! My parents never took me to McDonald's because they thought the food was gross. They didn't deprive me either because they would let me go to birthday parties in the caboose, or with friends if they went as a "treat", so it never became a thing I couldn't have. It's all about moderation, which people no longer seem to have anymore.
All things aside, that's a kick ass Happy Meal Box you put up there Perez!
R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S .. its something called parenting people.
You should know,fat ass.
Part of the problem is that the partents don't want to take responsibility for the obesity of their children. Blaming fast food restaurants is an easy cop out. Eating habits begin at home. Most kids who are obese are that way because the parents did not do their job in controlling what they ate or they gave them food as a way to comfort them or keep them quiet. I think its great that fast food restaurants are providing for healthy foods, but put the blame where the blame belongs, on the parents. I have also noticed that alot of obese adults have obese children. They can't control their eating so they are not controlling their childs eating. so stop blaming fast food restaurants and blame the parents
Dear Parents,
Its up to you what your kids eat. Not corporations. Let's say we spend this pointless "research" money on something that actually matters….talk about a waste
My son is 3 never been to a fast food restaurant, and as long as my husband or I are paying never will. Oh and don't think subway is any better, the bread there is loaded with sugar.
Last time I checked, toddlers and young children can't buy their own food….
Hmmmmmm. How about Sugar Pops next? Ho hos!? Ding dongs? how about putting GOOD GROCERY stores in the middle of cities that have only ff to eat?
Perez, I doubt you even write these posts anymore. You probably pay people to do what makes you famous. But keep in mind, you're still a fat fuck. I bet you wouldn't have said "Because fat kids turn into fat adults - and that's not good for anyone." No matter how much weight you lose, you're still a fat fuck and always will be. It's a state of mind.
And I bet you think it's hilarous that theres an ad for Lane Bryant underneath this post.
When are people going to learn to take responsibility for their own actions? Stop blaming others for your fuck-ups! Maybe I'll sue Vlasic for making the saurkraut that made me shit my pants last night and ruin my underwear.
Re: Meerelda – That's right! We played in the yard and even BEGGED to go outside and play.
At least MCD lets kids and parents have a choice. Apple Dipper or fries, Milk or Soda. Yogurt parfait with real strawberries are offered instead of ice cream. Yo parents. Wake up. And they give millions helping kids with Health concerns. Give me a break. Lead the way parents.
Even I wouldn't feed my daughters these gross Mcdonalds "flabby" meals….ICK…..who wants to eat burgers with fecal matter in them…..haha I laugh at all you poop eaters for going to eat there or any fast food place!
Re: pixiemom2002 – Thank You….
Ronald Mcdonal House has been around for the last 20 years and have done sooooooooo much good helping families and kids stay together.
I totally support them!
and if you dont want to eat the fatty food….they have TONS of other things that are very healthy…
How about parents stop letting their kids run the show and giving them everything they want? Big deal if a child sees an ad for McDick's. The parents drive that child there, ask them what they want, pay for it. So call me crazy, but the blame needs to be put on the parents and not on everyone else. I'm sick and tired of people blaming everyone and everything else for what's wrong with their child, etc…..and not accepting responsibility themselves. My child sees ads all the time and says she wants this and that, and my answer to that is no. She gets McDick's maybe once a month, if that…….she knows all about eating healthy because, SURPRISE, her father and I teach her that. Children are obese because parents don't give a damn, give in to them when they say no, then let them sit on their asses all day and play video games and not encourage them to go outside and be active. I'd like to slap everyone of them. Banning ads won't make a difference because the parents will still bring them there. And if not to those fast food places, then other restaurants. Eating out isn't healthy period, no matter where you go unless you can find a restaurant that serves no fat everything and doesn't deepfry or cook in butters and oils.
OMG!!!! I hate how the government tries to run our lives!!!! This is America, we are all about freedom, including freedom of choice. We are not idiot robots (well, some people are) we all have the right to make choices. If people choose to eat crap, so be it. What about the children? Let's worry about the children who live with drug addicted, abusive parents. Not children who eat fast food. The kids growing up in abusive homes are more of a burden to society than overweight children. Do gooder's always fight for the easy cause. It's easy to go after companies. It's harder to go after deadbeat, lazy, horrible parents!
I fucking eat MacDonalds ever day, it might be clogging my arteries,but it's not making me fat.
don't blame the companies, plame the parents. these kids aren't grabbing mom and dad's keys and taking the car to go out and get a happy meal… nor do they have the $$$ to purchase it. that's ALL the parent's responsibility and doing. not advertising to kids isn't going to do shit since actually aquiring that food on their own isn't in their power.
This better work. Or you might as well ban food altogether…
This is ridiculous. The government wants to make fast food companies pay out of their own pockets for advertisements that do not promote their business and may actually HURT it just so parents don't have to take full responsibility for the eating habits they've taught their children?
That would be like the government going to the fork industry and saying "your product is pretty pointy and could possibly put out someone's eye so we're requiring you to spend 50% of your fork advertising budget marketing fork alternatives like the spork and the spoon". Yes, if you jab a fork in your own eye you could very well blind yourself, but why should the entire fork industry have to alter their business plan and work against their own interests just because nobody taught you how to use a fork?
The only reason people get FAT from fast food is their fuckin L-A-Z-Y!!! So now me and my family have to suffer the ” change the oil, its to fattening” and eat shitty fries cuz of FAT PEOPLE!!! JUST SAY NO FAT PEOPLE!!! Ever heard of a SALAD!!
YES THE RESTRAUNTS R A LITTLE TO BLAME ON HOW THE FOOD IS COOKED BUT IN THE END ITS THE PARENTS WHO DR THEIR CHILDREN THERE. SOME PARENTS WOULD RATHER FEED THEIR KIDS THIS STUFF JUST 2 AVIOD A FULL BLOWN TANTRUM. I'M NOT SAYN I DONT LET MY KIDS EAT HAPPY MEALS, I DO BUT THERE IS A HUGE LIMIT ON EATING THERE. AFTER ALL I'M THE PARENT N THEY'RE R THE CHILD.
obesity is genetic… i eat fast food all the time and i am far from obese
Parents are always looking to lay the blame somewhere else for their own failures. I was never terribly influenced by the commercials, if I recall. My parents got us fast food a lot, especially after they divorced. It became comfort food for me and my siblings, resulting in my sister's obesity and my own (though much less serious) weight issues. It's the PARENTS responsibility to take care of their own children. I don't think that fast food, in moderation, is so awful (just like anything else!). People are being ridiculous these days.
"a ban on fast food advertisements to kids could cut childhood obesity by as much as 18%"
It's about fucking time. And to their pathetic argument that parents control what their kids eat, blah blahblah - BULLSHIT. How can parents control what their kids WANT after they saw advertisements shoved in their face all day? Just like anyone, a kid will try to get what they want, even if they have to do it behind their parents back. They could eat junk food at school, at a friend's house etc. I think people would eat less junk if there were less advertisements for it tempting them and reminding them about the junk food.
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY is the best college EVER
Re: Xelia Kay – Please don't have any children. Obviously you will not be a pro-active, loving parent. You be one of those that let's the kids raise themselves because, "hey, kids will do what they want anyway."
U can't totally blame the fast food joints - Americans are lazy people who don't want to take an extra 20 minutes or so to prepare a healthy meal at home. No wonder we're turning into a nation of fat asses.
The government puts bans and safegaurds in place when it comes to a lot of children's stuff. For instance all those cartoons you grew up watching, broadcasting stations have to, by law, have a certain percentage of their programming be geared toward children in an "educational" manner. Hello Dora the Explorer. Otherwise there would only be animae and no Bear in the big blue house. They even have to keep records of it in a public file that can be accessed and viewed at anytime. If we could trust the "parents" to advocate for children a law about this would not be necessary. So yeah, blame parents because untimately it is up to them but remember that there are more parents out there who just don't give a rats ass than there are parents who care.