Why Children in India Prefer Junk Food Over Healthy Food

New research investigates the links between marketing and media exposure and the preference for international foods and beverages among children in India, Pakistan, Brazil, China, Nigeria and Russia. The findings of the study are published in the Journal of Children and Media.

The kids who easily identified the logos of international food and beverage brands such as McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Coca-Cola, were more likely to request and prefer the processed foods marketed by these international corporations, the findings showed.

Food Addiction
Food addiction is the compulsive need to eat junk food that has a lot of carbohydrates, sugar, flour and other fatty substances. This can occur even when you are not hungry.

‘Understanding the reach of marketing and its impact on food preferences could help inform public health approaches to reverse trends of growing childhood obesity.’

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"Our findings draw attention to the insidious and pervasive nature of marketing and how it impacts children's health," said principal investigator of the study Dina Borzekowski from the University of Maryland in the US.

"Why would a five year old say that they want a Coca Cola over a lassi? Kentucky Fried Chicken over a stir-fried chicken and vegetable dish made by mom?" Borzekowski said.

For this study, Borzekowski and colleagues gathered information from 2,422 children between age 5 and 6 years from India, Brazil, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia.

Fast Foods
Fast foods contain as much as 500 calories per serve which is even higher than the calories that a lunch or dinner should provide. Majority of Indians have a flawed perception of healthy food options.

The participants were shown pictures of media characters (both internationally and locally popular ones) and they were asked to identify those pictures and characters.

The researchers found that three-fourths could name Tom and Jerry and two-thirds could name Mickey Mouse.

6 in 10 Food Advertisements are of Junk Foods
About six in ten food and drink advertisements shown during the family programs were of junk foods and are mostly aimed to influence children.

They also did a matching activity, where children were shown cards with different logos and asked to match each card with the item it might represent.

Overall, about 60 per cent were able to associate the Coca Cola swirl with an image of a soda glass.

Online and Social Media Advertising of Junk Foods Targeting Kids Banned in UK
Junk food advertising is to be banned across all children's media including online and social to help tackle childhood obesity.

To assess food preferences, the research team showed children two similar products -- one international and one domestic -- and asked which product they would want.

They also had children rate how much they desired a variety of domestic and international products. Character and logo recognition in young children was consistently and significantly related to the selection of international over domestic and local food and beverage options.

The influence of logo recognition was even stronger than that of media exposure, the study found.

Source-IANS