Rudd Center Recent Publications
Food Industry Making Progress to Reduce Ads to Kids,
But Most Food Advertising to Children Remains Unhealthy
Children are viewing
less food-related advertising, especially on children’s TV and the
internet, since the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative
(CFBAI) industry self-regulatory program was launched in 2007, according
to a new study –
FACTS 2017 –
by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of
Connecticut. As part of the voluntary Initiative, major food and
beverage companies pledged to shift the mix of foods advertised to
children under 12 to encourage healthier dietary choices.
Yet children still see 10 to 11 food-related TV ads per day, promoting
mostly unhealthy products including fast food, candy, sweet and salty
snacks, and sugary drinks. Moreover, the majority of CFBAI companies
have not responded to repeated calls from public health experts to
further strengthen nutrition standards for products they identify as
healthier dietary choices that can be advertised directly to children,
expand the Initiative to cover children up to at least 14 years old, and
expand the types of media covered by their pledges to include
programming that children frequently view as well as all forms of
marketing that appeal to children, such as mobile apps with branded
games and YouTube videos.
The Ways that People Cope with Weight Stigma
May Have Important Health Implications
A focus on positive coping strategies could help
improve health for those stigmatized because of their weight
Considerable evidence
has linked the experience of being teased or bullied because of weight
to poor health. Yet few studies have explored how individuals cope with
being mistreated because of their weight, or the role that coping
responses to weight stigma may play in health outcomes.
The findings of a
new study
by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of
Connecticut show that coping responses to weight stigma help explain why
experiencing weight stigma can affect negative or positive health
outcomes.
Coping with weight stigma by engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors
(like exercise or eating healthy foods) was associated with better
health, including greater self-esteem, better physical and psychological
wellbeing, and less frequent depressive symptoms. Responding to weight
stigma with negative emotions and maladaptive eating (such as starving,
bingeing or purging) were linked with more depressive symptoms, lower
self-esteem and worse physical and emotional health, according to the
study.
Food Swamps Predict Obesity Rates Better Than Food Deserts
Food deserts or
neighborhoods with limited access to affordable, nutritious food have
been identified as one possible driver of the nation’s obesity epidemic.
However, a
new study
by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of
Connecticut suggests that living in a food swamp – defined as a
neighborhood where fast food and junk food outlets inundate healthy
alternatives – is a stronger predictor of high obesity rates.
This new study is the first to compare food swamps to food deserts, and
measure their association with obesity rates using national,
county-level data. Importantly, the results show that food swamps are
distinct from food deserts. This has policy implications for local
communities interested in stemming rising obesity and promoting health
equity.
“While food deserts are certainly a problem in our country, our results
show that food swamps, which capture the balance of unhealthy to healthy
food outlets, predict obesity rates more accurately than food deserts,”
said Kristen Cooksey-Stowers, a Postdoctoral Fellow with the UConn Rudd
Center, and lead author of the study.
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