Lower Consumption of Soft Drinks Among Children with Parents who Limit TV-commercials

Introduction: Children’s increased consumption of soft drinks is a public health problem as excessive intake has been associated with an increased risk of childhood obesity, diabetes type two and dental caries. Previous studies have found positive associations between TV-viewing, including watching commercials, and consuming foods high in sugar.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the association between children’s TV use (exposure to commercials and time spent viewing TV) and their consumption of soft drinks, taking parental norms into account.
Method/Design: Data gathered 2007-2008 from the Swedish sample (n=1765) in the European IDEFICS study (“Identification and Prevention of Dietary and lifestyle-induced Health Effects in Children and Infants”) was used. Focus was on variables measuring children’s (2-9 years old) and parents’ soft drink consumption, children’s TV-viewing and exposure to commercial TV, and parents’ attitudes towards soft drink consumption and exposure to commercial TV. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios.
Results: Children of parents who did not or only partly limit their children’s exposure to commercials were at more than double the risk (OR: 2.1, CI: 1.6-2.8) to consume soft drinks at least weekly, compared to children of parents who intended to strictly limit the exposure. Furthermore, we found that the association between TV-viewing (viewing time as well as exposure to commercial TV) and soft drink consumption was independent of parental norms regarding soft drinks (role models and attitudes).
Conclusions:The results indicate that in order to decrease children’s soft drink consumption, parents’ intentions to limit children’s exposure to TV-commercials are important. The results provide strong arguments for the need to target parents with health promotion strategies including focus on TV and commercials.