The Impact of Public Health Nutrition on Food Television Advertising and Obesity - Essay Example

The Impact of Public Health Nutrition on Food Television Advertising and Obesity Total Number of Words: 1,514 Introduction The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed that there is an increasing trend of obesity among the people more than 18 years old and above. As of 2005, approximately 7.4 million individuals were considered obese as compared to 5.4 million back in 1998 (Australian Burea of Statistics 2008). This figure is very alarming because of the health risks associated with being overweight. Obesity is not only a serious health condition such as eating disorders but also a lifestyle problem that is visible within a person, family, and the society. Aside from a long list of health problems including type 2 diabetes or the non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), cerebral haemorrhage, coronary heart diseases, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, osteoarthritis, sleep apnoea, and cancer related to colon, rectum, post menopausal related breast cancer and uterus (Nazario 2007; Nanchahal et al. 2005; IARC Handbooks of Cancer Prevention 2002; Montaye at el. 2000), obesity could cause a person to deal with social adjustment disorders or social discrimination. (Pearce et al. 2002). Even though there has been a lot of studies conducted in the past which relates obesity with the abnormal food intake or poor diet (Styne 2005) and a genetic factor such as a metabolic defect (Roth et al. 2004; Rosmond 2002) or the leptin deficiency and the use of steroids (Link et al. 2004), it remains a fact that the major cause of obesity is not certain since each individual has different capacity to burn calories. (Prentice and Jebb 1995) In line with this, binge eating or the habit of being unable to control over eating could lead to obesity (de Zwaan and Mitchell 1992). Food manufacturers especially fast food restaurants are also actively promoting low cost high calorie foods to the public via paid television advertisements. (Styne 2005; Swinburn and Egger 2002) Advertising fast food items such as McDonald’s or Burger King on television, magazines, or billboards could indirectly affect the eating patterns and preferences of the young individuals. Considering the health consequences of obesity, three major academic journals written by Magnus et al. (2009), Morley et al. (2008), Kelly et al. (2007), Salmon, Campbell and Crawford (2006), and Utter, Scragg and Schaaf (2006) will be considered in evaluating the impact of television advertisement by food processors. Eventually, some recommended strategies on how to effectively counteract obesity will be provided in details. The Impact of Food Processors’ Television Advertisement on the High Rate of Obesity Since the use of television advertisements could easily attract and affect the food preferences of the children, food and advertising companies often target the children more than the adults (Magnus et al. 2009). In line with this, most of the unhealthy food advertisements are using toys, colourful images, convincing music, and popular personalities as a way of effectively capturing the attention of children to patronize unhealthy food products (Morley et al. 2008). The problem with this particular food television advertisement strategy is that these children may eventually develop a positive perception with regards to eating unhealthy foods as they enter adulthood stage. Upon examining the possibility to consider children’s television viewing as a significant indicator of risks to obesity, the eating habit of children, the low-level of physical activity among children, and the overweight or obesity among children within the primary school, Salmon, the cross-sectional study that was conducted by Campbell and Crawford (2006) revealed that the time spent by each child watching television is a good indicator of child obesity since school age children who were allowed to watch televsion more than two hours a day is more likely to have one or more serving of high energy drinks, one or more serving of savoury snacks, less than two or more serving of fruits a day, and are less likely to participate in high level of physical activity as compared to children who were allowed to watch television less than two hours each day. Similar to the study of Campbell and Crawford (2006), Utter, Scragg and Schaaf (2006) also revealed that children and adolescents who watch television most of the time are more likely to end up consuming unhealthy foods like soft drinks, sweets and snacks, and fast food products that are commonly seen on television advertisements after examining the impact of longer duration of television exposure on the eating habit of children and adolescents. Considering the fact that television advertisement is used to capture the interests of the food manufacturing companies’ target consumers, the recent study that was conducted by Magnus et al. (2009) revealed that there are evidences suggesting the ecological relationship between the use of television advertisement and childhood obesity. Upon examining the patterns and prevalence of food and drink advertisements of commercial television advertisements to children in Sydney, Australia, Kelly et al. (2007) revealed that the type of food being advertised during children’s viewing hours are usually foods that are high in fat and sugar content even though there is a similar proportion of food advertisements during the television viewing hours for children between the age bracket of 5 to 12 years old and the adults. In line with this, the food advertisements that target the children is composed of roughly 65.9% of all the food advertisements (Kelly et al. 2007). The problem with advertising unhealthy foods during the television viewing hours of children is that most parents are too busy to monitor the kind of advertisements being shown on television. In the absence of parental guidance, most children tend to accept whatever being said on food television advertisement without thinking whether or not the type of food being advertised on the television is good for their health or not. Young children are often the victim of television advertiements of food processors or fast food restaurants due to the fact that this group of people are not capable of differentiating the difference between good and nutritious foods with unhealthy foods such as those that are high in calorie, fat, and sugar foods. In line with this, Morley et al. (2008) conducted a cross-sectional telephone survey study to assess the parents’ concern with regards to the impact of food television advertising over their children’s poor eating habit. It was verified in the study of Morley et al. (2008) that most parents who participated in the study were very much concerned about the negative influence of unhealthy food television advertisements towards their children’s health. Recommended Strategies to Counteract Obesity With regards to lessening the impact of television advertisement over the increasing trend of obesity among the children and adults, there is a strong need for public health authorities to support the banning or restriction of television food advertisements that targets the children (Magnus et al. 2009). Even though this particular strategy may cause a strong opposition on the part of the food and advertising industries, banning or restricting television food advertisements that targets the children is considered as a cost-effective population-based intervention strategy that Australian government could easily implement. Considering the importance of regulating the food television advertisement in Australia, strengthening the existing food advertisement regulation should be re-examined and directed towards the restriction of advertising unhealthy foods including foods that are high in calorie, fat, and sugar content during the time of children’s television viewing (Morley et al. 2008; Kelly et al. 2007). Given that the number of awareness and complaints coming directly from the general public concerning the negative impact of unhealthy food television advertisement throughout Australia is low, there is a strong need to extend some health education regarding the difference between healthy and unhealthy foods as well as the negative impact of food television advertisements within the community. This strategy will enable the children and parents to have a better idea on how to eat right. There is a strong relationship between the duration of television exposure with the children’s frequency of eating unhealthy foods. For this reason, parents are recommended to control the number of hours they allow their children to watch television. In order to help children burn excess calories, each school and community is advice to encourage the students to actively participate in physical activities related to sports. Conclusion Obesity can negatively affect not only the physical health of children but also their psychosocial and cognitive development. Therefore, it is necessary to gather the children’s parents together with the participation of a multidisciplinary team of professionals ranging from public health nutritionists, psychologists, physicians and teachers to effectively educate the people on how to prevent increasing number of obesity among the children. Among the best ways to minimize the negative impact of food television advertisements with the increasing trend of obesity in Australia includes not only the need to control the number of hours each child is allowed to watch television but also regulate the food television advertisements by collaborating with people with authoritative power to make the difference such as the community members, the public health sector and the Australian government. Basically, encouraging this group of people to work towards one goal could strengthen their power when dealing with the opposition group which is composed of food and advertising industries. *** End *** References Andrew M Prentice and Susan A Jebb, “Obesity in Britain: Gluttony or Sloth?” British Medical Journal 311 (1995): 437 - 9. A. Magnus, M. Haby, R. Carter, and B. 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