From across the Atlantic, an interesting study conducted in the UK found an overabundance of junk food adverts in magazines, even those providing health advise and suggestions. From Medical News Today:

Newcastle University researchers collected and compared data on the nutritional content of the foods advertised in 30 most widely-read weekly magazines during November 2007.

Almost one quarter (23%) of the foods advertised were categorised as “containing fat or sugar” including products such as ice-cream, chocolate bars, sweets and full sugar soft drinks. Government guidelines recommend these should be eaten only “sparingly”. More of these adverts were found in magazines with a higher proportion of women readers or readers of a lower social class. In contrast, very few of the ads, only 1.8%, were for fruit and vegetables and these were mainly in high-end magazines.

“Nearly every magazine contains advice on a healthier lifestyle, yet we found the food adverts were for products high in sugar and salt and low in fibre such as ready meals, sauces and confectionary,” explains Dr Jean Adams, lecturer in public health at Newcastle University, who led the study.

“Obviously, it’s up to each of us to decide what we eat but if we’re constantly bombarded with images of unhealthy food every time we pick up a magazine then we’re going to be swayed in what we choose,” she adds.

Read the entire article…

What you need to know:

Unprocessed foods, mostly produce such broccoli, are the orphans of the advertising industry. They don’t have rich sponsors that can plaster ads every which way you turn. Manufactured, packaged foods, are priced to include a profit for the manufacturer after cost of advertising. Some brands of sweets have campaigns costing millions of dollars.

Consumers are thus unevenly exposed to some foods much more than others. And these marketing messages do work, otherwise manufacturers wouldn’t pay. This is especially critical with children, who as a result of creative marketing ads deem a bag of chips much cooler than a piece of fruit as a snack.

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