CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 179Obesity, Physical Activity, DietNutrition, Health and Food BehaviorMedia Influence and Health

By how much would limiting TV food advertising reduce childhood obesity?

Open access
Veerman, J. L., Van Beeck, E. F., Barendregt, J. J., Mackenbach, J. P.·2009·The European Journal of Public Health
DOI 10.1093/eurpub/ckp039PMC PMC2712920
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is evidence suggesting that food advertising causes childhood obesity. The strength of this effect is unclear. To inform decisions on whether to restrict advertising opportunities, we estimate how much of the childhood obesity prevalence is attributable to food advertising on television (TV). METHODS: We constructed a mathematical simulation model to estimate the potential effects of reducing the exposure of 6- to 12-year-old US children to TV advertising for food on the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Model input was based on body measurements from NHANES 2003-04, the CDC-2000 cut-offs for weight categories, and literature that relates advertising to consumption levels and consumption to body mass. In an additional analysis we use a Delphi study to obtain experts' estimates of the effect of advertising on consumption. RESULTS: Based on literature findings, the model predicts that reducing the exposure to zero would decrease the average BMI by 0.38 kg/m(-2) and lower the prevalence of obesity from 17.8 to 15.2% (95% uncertainty interval 14.8-15.6) for boys and from 15.9% to 13.5% (13.1-13.8) for girls. When estimates are based on expert opinion, these values are 11.0% (7.7-14.0) and 9.9% (7.2-12.4), respectively. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that from one in seven up to one in three obese children in the USA might not have been obese in the absence of advertising for unhealthy food on TV. Limiting the exposure of children to marketing of energy-dense food could be part of a broader effort to make children's diets healthier.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/eurpub/ckp039

Cites

35 of 35 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In an analysis using 2003-2004 NHANES data and evidence for relation of television advertising to dietary consumption, it was estimated that eliminating television food advertisements to children 6 to 12 years of age would reduce the prevalence of obesity by 14.6%.

    “Similarly, in an analysis using 2003–2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data and evidence for relation of television advertising to dietary consumption, it was estimated that eliminating television food advertisements to children 6 to 12 years of age would reduce the prevalence of obesity by 14.6%.”

    From Population Approaches to Improve Diet, Physical Activity, and Smoking Habits: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association (2012) · cites this paper as [393]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [3]Hastings G Stead M McDermott L Review of research on the effects of food promotion to children 2003 Glasgow University of Strathclyde
  2. [7]World Federation of Advertisers The Impact of Food Advertising on Children's Diets—a review of the evidence 1 February 2008, date accessed http://www.wfanet.org/pdf/adv_papers/how_advertising_foodchoice.pdf.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Veerman, J. L., Van Beeck, E. F., Barendregt, J. J., & Mackenbach, J. P.
Affiliations
  • The University of Queensland (AU)
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
ORCID
Mackenbach, J. P.
Venue
The European Journal of Public Health
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2009-03-26
Volume
19
Issue
4
Pages
365-369
ISSN
  • 1101-1262 (ISSN-L)
  • 1464-360X
DOI
10.1093/eurpub/ckp039
PMC
PMC2712920
OpenAlex
W2148677460
Cited by
179
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 17
FWCI
16.39
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc
Locations
  • European Journal of Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Health and Medical Research Council
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Media Influence and Health
Keywords
childhood obesity, television food advertising, advertising restrictions, overweight prevalence, body mass index, energy-dense foods, food marketing exposure, children's diet, obesity prevention, mathematical simulation model
MeSH terms
Advertising, Child, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Male, Nutrition Surveys, Obesity, Models, Statistical, Body Mass Index, Food Industry

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review