26/12/2015
Playing candy games
may expose kids to
unhealthy foods:
Study
LONDON: Children who play online
food-related games are more likely
to eat unhealthy snacks, thereby
increasing their risk of gaining
extra weight, new research
suggests. . This is because children often fail
to recognize the fact that most of
the games that they play on the
internet are forms of
advertisements for candy and
snacks, the study explained. . "In contrast to television, where
the clearly delimited blocks of
commercials can help viewers
guard against temptation, on the
internet, advertising is mixed with
other types of content. The
websites of food manufacturers
contain games, which also offer
children the option of sharing
games with their friends," said
researcher Frans Folkvord from
Radboud University in Nijmegen,
the Netherlands. . Folkvord discovered that children
do not recognize the games as
advertisements, even when brand
names and logos are clearly visible. . Moreover, it does not matter
whether the games are about candy
or fruit: Children eat more candy
after playing a game involving
food, the findings showed. . The study tested the effects of such
hidden online food advertisements
on the eating behaviour of more
than 1,000 children. . The researchers found that shortly
after playing a game with an
embedded food advertisement,
children ate 55% more of the
candy offered to them than
children who had played a game
with an embedded toy
advertisement. . During the five-minute break after
playing the food-related games,
children ate 72 more calories than
did children in the control
conditions. . Although Folkvord found no link
between eating candy and having a
higher body mass index (BMI) two
years later, choosing the snack did
have an effect. . The BMIs of children who chose to
satisfy their hunger with an apple
instead of with candy were lower
two years later than were those of
children who had chosen to satisfy
their hunger with candy. . The findings suggest the necessity
of a discussion concerning the
prohibition of food commercials
aimed at children. . The study appeared in the journal
Current Opinion in Behavioral
Sciences.
