TV Adverts Promote Imbalanced Diets
July 1st, 2010 | by Fiona |A study that appeared in the June issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association compared food choices influenced by TV adverts to nutritional guidelines, and found them sorely lacking. Indeed, the study authors claim that making food choices based on TV adverts would lead to a very imbalanced diet. They reported that a 2000 calorie diet consisting solely of advertised food products would provide 20 times the recommended intake of fat and 25 times the recommended intake of sugar, whilst only providing half of the recommended servings of fruit and veg!
“The results of this study suggest the foods advertised on television tend to oversupply nutrients associated with chronic illness (eg, saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium) and undersupply nutrients that help protect against illness (eg, fiber, vitamins A, E, and D, calcium, and potassium),” according to lead investigator Michael Mink, PhD, Assistant Professor and MPH Program Coordinator, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA.
The study authors recommend issuing warnings for imbalanced foods and health promotion strategies.
Source: Medical News Today
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