Link between TV adverts and junk food eaten – report

TEENAGERS who watch lots of TV with adverts are more likely to eat junk food, suggesting a “strong association between advertisements and eating habits”, according to a report.

Cancer Research UK warned that being bombarded by TV adverts for unhealthy, high-calorie food could lead youngsters to eat more than 500 extra snacks such as crisps, biscuits and fizzy drinks throughout the course of a single year.

When they watched TV without adverts, researchers found no link between screen time and the likelihood of eating more junk food, suggesting that the adverts on commercial TV may be driving youngsters to snack on more unhealthy food.

Regularly eating high-calorie food and drink – which usually have higher levels of fat and sugar – increases the risk of becoming overweight or obese.

More than one in three British teenagers are overweight or obese, with obesity the second biggest preventable cause of cancer in the UK after smoking, and linked to 13 types of cancer including bowel, breast and pancreatic.

Lead author Dr Jyotsna Vohra said: “This is the strongest evidence yet that junk food adverts could increase how much teens choose to eat.

“It’s been 10 years since the first, and only, TV junk food marketing regulations were introduced by Ofcom and they’re seriously out of date. Ofcom must stop junk food adverts being shown during programmes that are popular with young people.”

The charity based the study on a YouGov survey, which questioned 3,348 young people in the UK between the ages of 11 and 19 on their TV viewing habits and diet.