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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 14, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Limiting TV ads for sugary, salty and high-fat foods and drinks<\/a> might help reduce childhood obesity<\/a>, British researchers suggest.<\/p>\n They looked at advertising of these products between 5:30 a.m. and 9 p.m. If all such ads were withdrawn during those hours, the number of obese<\/a> kids in the U.K. between the ages of 5 and 17 would drop by 5% and the number of overweight<\/a> kids would fall 4%, the study found.<\/p>\n That’s equivalent to 40,000 fewer kids in the U.K. who would be obese<\/a> and 120,000 fewer who would be overweight<\/a>, the researchers said.<\/p>\n The findings were published online Oct. 13 in the journal PLOS Medicine<\/i>.<\/p>\n Oliver Mytton, an academic clinical lecturer at the Center for Diet<\/a> and Activity Research at the University of Cambridge, led the study.<\/p>\n “Measures which have the potential to reduce exposure to less-healthy food advertising on television could make a meaningful contribution to reducing childhood obesity<\/a>,” the authors said in a journal news release.<\/p>\n But they also pointed out that they could not fully account for all factors that would affect the impact of the policy, if implemented.<\/p>\n They added: “Children now consume media from a range of sources, and increasingly from online and on-demand services, so in order to give all children the opportunity to grow up healthy it is important to ensure that this advertising doesn’t just move to the 9-10 pm slot and to online services.”<\/p>\n — Steven Reinberg<\/p>\n ![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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