Most Food Products Promoted by Athletes are Low in Nutrition and High in Calories

by Kathy Jones on October 8, 2013 at 11:17 PM

Researchers at Yale University have found that majority of the food products promoted by athletes are high in calories and low in nutritional value and suggested that they should reject promoting such food and instead should look to promote health food items.

Researchers from Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity analyzed the endorsements of the Top 100 athletes in the U.S., based on BusinessWeek's 2010 Power 100 report, and found that of the 512 brand endorsements, around 122 were related to food and beverages.

Processed Foods

Processed or convenience foods require less time and energy for food preparation. Most of the processed foods are healthy with nutritional values.

Around 49 of the 62 food products were high in calories and low in nutritional value while 43 of the 46 sports drinks, sodas and beverages that the athletes promoted derived all of their calories from sugar. The study has been published in the journal Pediatrics.

"Our ultimate hope would be that athletes reject the unhealthy endorsements or, at the very least, promote healthy foods. These athletes have an opportunity to work with parents. Instead, they're promoting really unhealthy foods", lead researcher Marie Bragg said.

Source: Medindia