Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 4
Nothing can make you feel as smart as a page full of numerical trivia. That’s why Harper’s Index has so many fans among the magazine’s readers. This information comes from an old clipping. Way back in 1983, the average child in America had been tempted by only $2.98 worth of advertising in a year. Next, […]
McDonald’s Still Making News as Childhood Obesity Culprit
An Associated Press news article from Sao Paulo, Brazil, recently reported that a McDonald’s manager successfully sued the company for making him obese. He worked there for 12 years, and packed on 65 pounds while diligently sampling each day’s fare to make sure that it tasted good. The free lunches granted to employees helped, too. […]
The Medical Science and Food Addiction Barrier
Today, the focus is on a piece written by forensic psychologist Karen Franklin, Ph.D. What, you may ask, does forensic psychology have to do with the childhood obesity epidemic? Well, it turns out that the upper levels of all the professions have certain characteristics in common, and this applies to the medical establishment and everybody […]
Eating as Recreation, Food as Fun
When something hits a nerve, there’s no mistaking it. Friday’s post “When There is Nothing to Do But Eat,” concerning one of the contributing factors to the childhood obesity epidemic, definitely brought forth a flood of comments, ranging from pure nostalgia to well-reasoned arguments. Many thanks to everybody for contributing to this topic! By the […]
Breakfast Cereals for Children
We have spotlighted advertising directed at children as a major causative factor in the childhood obesity epidemic, and nowhere is it more prominent than in the breakfast cereal market. There’s fudge ripple cereal, cereal that tastes like cookies, magical marshmallows with chocolate cereal pieces, and on and on. Shelley Janson, who has done more food-related […]
Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 3
There are two really good reasons to limit screen time for kids (and grownups too). Reason Number One: If you’re facing a monitor, you’re probably sitting still. Reason Number Two: If you aspire to sane eating habits, network television will try your patience and crumble your resolve. TV commercials are slick, persuasive, and dangerous. It […]
Comfort Eating May Be Hard-Wired
Journalist Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent for the Telegraph, has been talking with some Israeli research scientists who believe they have found an “anxiety gene” in the course of research done at the Weizmann Institute. It appears that this gene is also responsible for the phenomenon known as comfort eating. This gene controls a “stress switch” […]
Hospitals and Fast Food
Dr. Davis Liu is a family physician with the Permanente Medical Group and the author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely, which is about making intelligent choices in the healthcare system of America as we currently know it. In the piece we’re looking at today, he says, The real question is whether our corporations […]
Fast Food, Hospitals, and Cravings
Fast food and hospitals are the two concepts that should not be found together in the same sentence. And yet, their relationship grows cozier all the time. It was with some dismay that Dr. Pretlow recently noticed a TV commercial for the Blizzard Children’s Miracle Network. Actually, the word that came to mind was “disgusted.” […]
Sell It to the Kids
In “Behind the Shady World of Marketing Junk Food to Children,” Jill Richardson reveals that one out of every three visits to fast food eateries is the direct result of parents being nagged beyond endurance. Apparently, that’s all part of the master plan: Marketers use sophisticated child psychology to help children leverage ‘pester power,’ effectively […]