The Relationship Between Food Advertisement Exposure and Eating in the Absence of Hunger in 7- to 9-Year-Old Children

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Ramesh, Sruthi
Area of Honors:
Nutritional Sciences
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Kathleen Loralee Keller, Thesis Supervisor
Alison D Gernand, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
Eating Behaviors
Food Advertising
Eating in the Absence of Hunger
Meal Intake
Childhood Obesity
Abstract:
Childhood obesity is a growing public health crisis worldwide with multifactorial causes. Many children with obesity do not have a single underlying cause for weight gain, but previous research suggests it may be a combination of various genetic and environmental determinants. Food marketing, any sort of communication that is meant to increase recognition, appeal, or consumption of a specific type of food service, is a common environmental factor that is a significant contributor to obesity since it usually focuses on unhealthy, palatable foods. It is crucial to understand the role food marketing plays in childhood obesity to identify and implement intervention strategies. The data for the current thesis is part of a larger parent study titled Project REACH, investigating how advertisements influence children’s eating behaviors. It is an ongoing 5-visit longitudinal study focusing on 7–9-year-old children (n=89). The current thesis specifically aimed to identify the relationship between advertisement exposure condition (toy advertisement vs. food advertisement) and laboratory meal intake and eating in the absence of hunger (EAH). On visits 3 and 4, children were exposed to food or toy advertisements, in counterbalanced order, and then consumed an ad libitum meal of common foods such as a grilled cheese sandwich and chicken tenders. Fifteen minutes later they were presented with 9 sweet and savory snacks to test EAH. The results found no significant difference in meal or EAH intake when exposed to the food advertisement, as compared to the toy advertisement (p>0.05), suggesting that advertisement condition did not significantly impact food intake. However, the study showed that their intake following food advertising was strongly correlated with their intake following toy advertising, for both the meal and EAHI. This indicates that children ate a consistent amount and type of food across the visits, regardless of advertisement condition. Further research is warranted to examine how food advertisements influence children’s eating behaviors, given that the results of this study do not completely align with previous literature.