Media Influence on Nutritional Choices in Children

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Table of Contents

Introduction
PICO Questions
Literature review
Background
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Children are more susceptible to media influence than adults as they are not ready to evaluate data critically. Consequently, the media shape their behaviors and even influence food preferences. In case of the same effort to promote healthy and unhealthy foods, children will still choose harmful ones (Coates et al., 2019). This effect leads to childhood obesity and related health problems. The rationale for a topic is the issue of relevance during a pandemic when it is challenging to limit Internet use.

PICO Questions

In school-age children (P), do the media literacy skills (I) improve nutritional choices (O) compared with no such skills (C)?

In school-age children (P), does health education (I) improve nutritional choices (O) compared with no education (C)?

Literature review

Studies confirm the link between media influence and junk food choices. Mazur et al. (2018), Smith et al. (2019), and Spielvogel et al. (2018) pay particular attention to the methods used in media to convince children and health consequences. Coates et al. (2019) found that advertising healthy foods has no such effect as unhealthy. Scaglioni et al. (2018) emphasize the initial influence of parents in the formation of dietary habits. Austin et al. (2020) found that an intervention that teaches media literacy and promotes parent-child communication can improve eating habits. Thus, the literature focuses on the negative influence of the media on food choices and possible interventions.

Background

The effect of the media on eating habits is undeniable, and many researchers have paid attention to it. Marketing for unhealthy foods, lifestyle changes due to technology, and their interconnections have negatively affected children’s health. Obesity among the younger generation is becoming more frequent and has adverse health consequences. However, researchers also pay attention to the parents’ influence on habit formation. They can play a crucial role in the development of interventions.

Methods

A literature review was conducted to evaluate the potential of interventions to educate children and parents about resistance to media and nurturing healthy eating habits. Keywords related to children, healthy diet, habits, influence of media, and parents served as queries. The main bases for searching were Google Scholar, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. The included articles had to correspond to the topic, be written in English, and be published in a peer-reviewed journal over the past five years.

Results

Considering all the sources, the following points attract attention:

Media has a predominantly negative impact on children’s food preferences.
The family system has a more significant impact on establishing life habits.
Communication with parents, including joint nutrition, positively affects the upbringing of food habits (Haines et al., 2019).
It is crucial to emphasize pleasure rather than the health benefit aspect when promoting healthy food (Haines et al., 2019; Marty et al., 2018).

Discussion

A literature review demonstrates that children can learn to resist manipulation in the media and acquire beneficial eating habits. However, parents play an essential role in achieving these goals. It is crucial that in promoting healthy food, an emphasis is needed on pleasure, not health benefits. Considering the above facts, medical personnel should promote healthy eating habits by informing parents. Community-based interventions to educate children and parents are possible options.

Conclusion

Children are increasingly opting for unhealthy food, persuaded by media manipulation. In turn, the existing advertising of healthy food does not have such an effect. A wrong diet can lead to serious health problems in the future. However, parents have a more significant influence in establishing beneficial eating habits. Therefore, the education of parents and children can help them resist media and form preferences for healthy food.

References

Austin, E. W., Austin, B., Kaiser, C. K., Edwards, Z., Parker, L., & Power, T. G. (2020). A media literacy-based nutrition program fosters parent – child food marketing discussions, improves home food environment, and youth consumption of fruits and vegetables.Childhood Obesity, 16(S1), S-33. Web.

Bacaro, V., Benz, F., Pappaccogli, A., De Bartolo, P., Johann, A. F., Palagini, L., Lombardo, C., Feige, B., Riemann, D., & Baglioni, C. (2020). Interventions for sleep problems during pregnancy: A systematic review.Sleep Medicine Reviews, 50, 101234. Web.

Coates, A. E., Hardman, C. A., Halford, J. C., Christiansen, P., & Boyland, E. J. (2019). Social media influencer marketing and children’s food intake: A randomized trial.Pediatrics, 143(4), e20182554. Web.

Haines, J., Haycraft, E., Lytle, L., Nicklaus, S., Kok, F. J., Merdji, M., Fisberg, M., Moreno, L.A., Goulet, O., & Hughes, S. O. (2019). Nurturing Children’s healthy eating: Position statement. Appetite, 137, 124-133. Web.

Marty, L., Chambaron, S., Nicklaus, S., & Monnery-Patris, S. (2018). Learned pleasure from eating: An opportunity to promote healthy eating in children?Appetite, 120, 265-274. Web.

Mazur, A., Caroli, M., Radziewicz‐Winnicki, I., Nowicka, P., Weghuber, D., Neubauer, D., Dembiński, Ł., Crawley, F.P., White, M., & Hadjipanayis, A. (2018). Reviewing and addressing the link between mass media and the increase in obesity among European children: The European Academy of Paediatrics (EAP) and The European Childhood Obesity Group (ECOG) consensus statement.Acta Paediatrica, 107(4), 568-576. Web.

Morris, B. J., Hankins, C. A., Banerjee, J., Lumbers, E. R., Mindel, A., Klausner, J. D., & Krieger, J. N. (2019). Does male circumcision reduce women’s risk of sexually transmitted infections, cervical cancer, and associated conditions?Frontiers in Public Health, 7, 4. Web.

Scaglioni, S., De Cosmi, V., Ciappolino, V., Parazzini, F., Brambilla, P., & Agostoni, C. (2018). Factors influencing children’s eating behaviours.Nutrients, 10(6), 706. Web.

Smith, R., Kelly, B., Yeatman, H., & Boyland, E. (2019). Food marketing influences children’s attitudes, preferences and consumption: A systematic critical review.Nutrients, 11(4), 875. Web.

Spielvogel, I., Matthes, J., Naderer, B., & Karsay, K. (2018). A treat for the eyes. An eye-tracking study on children’s attention to unhealthy and healthy food cues in media content.Appetite, 125, 63-71. Web.

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