Some good news for parents

Tired of your kids running the show? A recent study (as described in Food ads may outweigh parents’ diet advice – Health – CBC News) shows that kids given the choice between healthy and unhealthy foods will choose the healthier foods more frequently if given suggestions to do so by their parents.

A study at Texas A&M showed commercials for fries to a group of children and commercials promoting a healthy snack to another group of children. When asked to choose between a healthy snack and fries, 71% of the group shown the commercial for fries chose the fries. Of a subset of this group who were told by their parents to choose a healthy snack, 55% chose the healthy food. It was statistically significant and showed that there was, in fact, an impact of parental advice on the choice of their child. (Having said that, 55% of the group whose parents suggested that they choose the healthy snack still chose fries, showing that ads — and taste buds — still play an important role!)