Poll: Does more need to be done to promote healthy eating on children's TV?

Experts analysed TV programmes for children in the UK and Ireland to assess the frequency and type of food and beverage placement.

Their study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, examined five week days of programming between 6am and 11.30am and recorded every food and drink presented.

A total of 1,155 food and drink "cues" were recorded across 82-and-a-half hours of programming during 2010.

The researchers, from Ireland and Canada, found that eating and drinking were common activities in children-specific programmes and that unhealthy foods and beverages were especially common.

Sweet snacks were the most shown food cue followed by sweets and candy while tea and coffee were the most presented drinks followed by sugar-sweetened beverages.

The authors also found that food cues were more likely to be associated with "positive motivating factors".

The outcome of the "cue" was positive in 32.6% of cases, negative in 19.8% and neutral in 47.5%.

"Increased time in which children spend watching television is a well-described contributor to paediatric obesity," the authors said.

"This study provides further evidence of the prominence of unhealthy food in children's programming.

"We suggest that parents, policymakers and physicians should be aware of the frequent portrayals of unhealthy food and beverages in a positive light in children's programming.

"Future children's television programmes should address this by including frequent and positively associated connotations with healthy foods and behaviours."