PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Fast food marketing for children disproportionately affects certain communities

2014-11-04
(Press-News.org) A newly published research study examining only marketing directed at children on the interior and exterior of fast food restaurants has found that the majority of black, middle-income and rural communities are disproportionately exposed to such marketing tactics.

Authored by Arizona State University researcher Punam Ohri-Vachaspati and her colleagues, the study is the first to examine the use of child-directed marketing on the interior and exterior of fast food restaurants and its relationship to demographics. It adds to a substantial body of literature on the effects of various marketing efforts on fast food consumption and their relationship to health outcomes in children.

In the United States, fast food is the second largest source of total energy in the diets of children and adolescents. It provides 13 percent of total calories consumed by 2- to 18-year-olds. Every day, almost a third of children aged 2 to 11 years and more than 40 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds consume food and drinks from fast food restaurants.

"Fast food companies in the U.S. spend nearly a quarter of their marketing budgets targeting youth aged 2 to 17 years," said Ohri-Vachaspati, an associate professor of nutrition in the School of Nutrition and Health Promotion. "In 2009, fast food restaurants spent more than $700 million to market their products to children and adolescents; nearly half of the amount went toward premiums such as kids' meal toys."

The study considered a total of 6,716 fast food restaurants – chain and independently owned – between 2010 and 2012. The businesses were selected from a national sample of 434 communities where public middle and high school students reside. Community-specific data were obtained at the block group level and included information regarding median household income, ethnicity and degree of urbanization.

Elements of child-directed marketing were broken down into discrete measures. Marketing tactics on the interior included indoor play area and display of kids' meal toys. Child-directed marketing measures on the exterior of the restaurants visible from the parking lot or street included advertisements with cartoon characters; advertisements with movie, TV or sports figures; and advertisements for kids' meal toys among others.

The researchers found that while most fast food restaurants sampled were located in non-Hispanic and majority white neighborhoods, those situated in middle-income neighborhoods, rural communities and majority black neighborhoods had higher odds of using child-directed marketing tactics.

Overall, one-fifth of restaurants sampled used one or more strategies targeting children. The indoor display of kids' meal toys was most popular, followed by exterior ads with cartoon characters, as well as ads with kids' meal toys. Chain restaurants had nine times greater odds of having a kids' meal toy display on the inside; restaurants in majority black neighborhoods had almost twice the odds of having such displays compared to those in white neighborhoods.

"Marketing food to children is of great concern not only because it affects their current consumption patterns, but also because it may affect their taste and preferences," said Ohri-Vachaspati, who studies the role that food marketing plays in driving behaviors and assesses the impact of food environments and policies in schools and in community settings. "We know that consumption of fast food in children may lead to obesity or poorer health, and that low income and minority children eat fast food more often."

According to Ohri-Vachaspati, while several major U.S. food and beverage companies and fast food restaurants have created the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative and taken other steps to encourage marketing of healthier food and beverage choices to children, there's room for improvement.

"Despite the self-regulatory efforts, a stronger push for providing and marketing only healthy foods to children is needed, especially in disadvantaged populations," she said. "We know that fast food is convenient and inexpensive and is often used by parents to provide quick meals to their children. We want to make it easier for parents and children, especially those at greater risk for poor diet and health, to make healthier choices by marketing only healthy food options that meet dietary guidelines to children.

"Another goal of the study is to track patterns. As marketing strategies targeting children in media are restricted as part of self-regulation, an increase in such efforts may or may not occur at restaurants. We'd like to present evidence to inform future industry and public policy initiatives."

INFORMATION: The study has been authored by Punam Ohri-Vachaspati from Arizona State University; Zeynep Isgor, Leah Rimkus, Lisa M. Powell, and Frank J. Chaloupka from the Institute for Health Research and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago; and Dianne C. Barker from Barker Bi-Coastal Health Consultants, Inc. in Calabasas, California.

The analytic sample used in the study is part of the Community Obesity Measures Project of Bridging the Gap, a nationally recognized research program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Where'd you get that great idea?

2014-11-04
PITTSBURGH—It's commonly believed that creativity is a process that involves connecting ideas and building on the past to create something new. But is it better to "think outside the box," using unrelated concepts to get the creative juices flowing, or to build on something more closely related to the problem one is trying to solve? In a paper newly published in Design Studies, recent University of Pittsburgh graduate Joel Chan and his mentor Christian Schunn of Pitt's Learning Research and Development Center, along with Carnegie Mellon University's Steven Dow, ...

NASA's Aqua satellite sees Hurricane Vance headed for landfall in western Mexico

NASAs Aqua satellite sees Hurricane Vance headed for landfall in western Mexico
2014-11-04
NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Vance on Nov. 3 as it started moving in a northeasterly direction toward the northwestern coast of Mexico. On Nov. 4, a Tropical Storm Watch was in effect from Mazatlan northward to Topolobampo, Mexico. Hurricane Vance is forecast to make landfall in northwestern mainland Mexico on Nov. 5. On Nov. 3 at 20:50 UTC (3:50 p.m. EST) the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured a visible image of Hurricane Vance off Mexico's west coast. The eastern quadrant of the storm ...

Why does red meat increase the risk for cardiovascular disease? Blame our gut bacteria

2014-11-04
New research provides details on how gut bacteria turn a nutrient found in red meat into metabolites that increase the risk of developing heart disease. Publishing in the November 4th issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism, the findings may lead to new strategies for safeguarding individuals' cardiovascular health. Previous research led by Dr. Stanley Hazen, of Lerner Research Institute and the Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute at Cleveland Clinic, revealed a pathway by which red meat can promote atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Essentially, ...

Granger causality test can make epilepsy surgery more effective

2014-11-04
ATLANTA—A new statistical test that looks at the patterns of high-frequency network activity flow from brain signals can help doctors pinpoint the exact location of seizures occurring in the brain and make surgery more effective, according to researchers at Georgia State University and Emory University School of Medicine. The findings are published in the journal Epilepsia. Emory researchers Dr. Charles Epstein, Dr. Robert Gross and Dr. Jon Willie; Dr. Bhim Adhikari, a post doctoral researcher at Georgia State, and Dr. Mukesh Dhamala, an associate professor of ...

Mayo Clinic researchers discover genetic markers for alcoholism recovery

2014-11-04
ROCHESTER, Minn. — In an international study, Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators have identified genetic markers that may help in identifying individuals who could benefit from the alcoholism treatment drug acamprosate. The findings, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, show that patients carrying these genetic variants have longer periods of abstinence during the first three months of acamprosate treatment. Acamprosate is a commonly prescribed drug used to aid patients in recovery from alcoholism. Mayo researchers studied the association between ...

Are there as many rats as people in New York City?

2014-11-04
Urban legend states that New York City has as many rats as people: roughly 8 million; but a new analysis suggests there are nowhere near as many. The analysis classified rat sightings by city lot, of which there are roughly 842,000 in New York City. The researchers estimated 40,500 rat-inhabited lots in the city. By liberally assuming that 40 to 50 rats belong to a typical colony and that one full colony occupies each rat-inhabited lot, the researchers concluded that 2 million would be an extremely generous estimate of the city's rat population. "While the rat population ...

Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease may share deep roots

Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease may share deep roots
2014-11-04
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) appear to have a lot in common. They share risk factors such as obesity and they often occur together. If they also share the same genetic underpinings, then doctors could devise a way to treat them together too. With that hope in mind, scientists applied multiple layers of analysis to the genomics of more than 15,000 women. In a new study they report finding eight molecular pathways shared in both diseases as well as several "key driver" genes that appear to orchestrate the ...

Research in the identity of agricultural pests has broad implications

2014-11-04
A global research effort has resolved a major biosecurity issue by determining that four of the world's most destructive agricultural pests are one and the same. The Oriental fruit fly, the Philippine fruit fly, the Invasive fruit fly, the Carambola fruit fly, and the Asian Papaya fruit fly cause incalculable damage to horticultural industries and food security across Asia, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of South America. More than 40 researchers from 20 countries examined available evidence and determined that the Carambola fruit fly is a distinct species, but the other ...

Many future health professionals drink too much alcohol

2014-11-04
A new study found that 43% of nursing students indulge in hazardous alcohol consumption, with 14.9% of men and 18.7% of women meeting criteria for hazardous drinkers. Hazardous drinkers were more likely to be young, to smoke, and to live outside the family nucleus. "Alcohol-prevention activities should envisage greater protection of university settings, particularly where future health professionals are involved," wrote the authors of the Journal of Advanced Nursing study. INFORMATION: ...

New research explores scent communication in polar bears

2014-11-04
New research indicates that scent associated with polar bear paws conveys information that may affect the animals' social and reproductive behavior. This chemical form of communication was likely shaped by the environmental constraints of Arctic sea ice. Scientists worry that this communication may be impacted if scent trails are disrupted due to increased fracturing of sea ice from climate change. "Effective communication is essential for successful reproduction in solitary, wide-ranging animals," said Dr. Megan Owen, lead author of the Journal of Zoology study. "Developing ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Pink skies

Monkeys are world’s best yodellers - new research

Key differences between visual- and memory-led Alzheimer’s discovered

% weight loss targets in obesity management – is this the wrong objective?

An app can change how you see yourself at work

NYC speed cameras take six months to change driver behavior, effects vary by neighborhood, new study reveals

New research shows that propaganda is on the rise in China

Even the richest Americans face shorter lifespans than their European counterparts, study finds

Novel genes linked to rare childhood diarrhea

New computer model reveals how Bronze Age Scandinavians could have crossed the sea

Novel point-of-care technology delivers accurate HIV results in minutes

Researchers reveal key brain differences to explain why Ritalin helps improve focus in some more than others

Study finds nearly five-fold increase in hospitalizations for common cause of stroke

Study reveals how alcohol abuse damages cognition

Medicinal cannabis is linked to long-term benefits in health-related quality of life

Microplastics detected in cat placentas and fetuses during early pregnancy

Ancient amphibians as big as alligators died in mass mortality event in Triassic Wyoming

Scientists uncover the first clear evidence of air sacs in the fossilized bones of alvarezsaurian dinosaurs: the "hollow bones" which help modern day birds to fly

Alcohol makes male flies sexy

TB patients globally often incur "catastrophic costs" of up to $11,329 USD, despite many countries offering free treatment, with predominant drivers of cost being hospitalization and loss of income

Study links teen girls’ screen time to sleep disruptions and depression

Scientists unveil starfish-inspired wearable tech for heart monitoring

Footprints reveal prehistoric Scottish lagoons were stomping grounds for giant Jurassic dinosaurs

AI effectively predicts dementia risk in American Indian/Alaska Native elders

First guideline on newborn screening for cystic fibrosis calls for changes in practice to improve outcomes

Existing international law can help secure peace and security in outer space, study shows

Pinning down the process of West Nile virus transmission

UTA-backed research tackles health challenges across ages

In pancreatic cancer, a race against time

Targeting FGFR2 may prevent or delay some KRAS-mutated pancreatic cancers

[Press-News.org] Fast food marketing for children disproportionately affects certain communities