Bradley Greenberg, MSU professor of communication and telecommunication, information studies and media is the lead author of a research report that says unhealthy foods and even alcohol use are prevalent on many TV shows aimed at young people. Photo by G.L. Kohuth.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. — A Michigan State University study has found that many unhealthy foods and even alcohol use make their way quite easily into television shows that are favored by children and so-called “tweens,” youth between the ages of nine and 14.

In fact, the study, published in a recent issue of the journal Health Communication, finds that unhealthy food is on display much more often in those programs, compared to programs favored by adults.

“Fat-producing foods are eaten or talked about five times as often on children’s favorite television shows, compared with shows aimed at adults,” said Bradley Greenberg, an MSU professor of communication and telecommunication, information studies and media, and lead author of the paper.

He said that for every hour of watching, there are 2.6 instances of eating or discussing unhealthy foods on kids’ shows, compared to less than one on adult programs.

For programs aimed at “tweens” the rate was about 2.1 per hour.

Unhealthy foods are considered those that primarily contain oils, solid fats or sugar.

Obesity is a major health issue in the United States, Greenberg said, especially among young children. Television can play a role in that and not just in promoting a sedentary lifestyle.

“Children are impressed by their favorite television show and pay attention to them,” Greenberg said. “The TV characters can provide positive role models in their eating habits or they can present negative role models.

“With minimum effort the shows’ creators could instead provide positive eating examples merely by changing the food props. There are only positive reasons to have characters eat an apple, drink water or milk, have some vegetables, or even say ‘no thank you’ to an offer of ice cream or a soft drink.”

As for drinking, alcohol use on prime time shows averaged 2.3 alcoholic drinks per hour, 1.8 per hour on daytime soaps, 2.4 on tween shows, and .8 per hour on children’s shows.

“Alcohol is seen and used as often on the favorite television shows of tweens as TV shows aimed at adults,” Greenberg said. “Of all the drinking on the tweens’ favorite shows, one in three was alcoholic.”

It’s estimated that tweens who watch three to four hours of TV a day view six to eight incidents of alcohol consumption daily.

“There were virtually no positive or negative outcomes presented either verbally or physically,” Greenberg said. “That is, no one got sick or injured because they were drunk.”

More than half of the foods – about 53 percent – on the Fox Network’s children’s shows were considered unhealthy. That compares to 35 percent on Nickelodeon and 7 percent on the WB.

In the tween programs, 55 percent of the foods presented on the Disney Channel were unhealthy. That compares to 30 percent on Fox and 15 percent on ABC.

Only the Fox Network and ABC offered tween shows that contained any use of alcohol.

Other authors of the paper included Charles Salmon and Julie Volkman of MSU; Sarah Rosaen of the University of Michigan-Flint; and Tracy Worrell of the Rochester Institute of Technology.

For a copy of the paper, go here.

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