The weighty issue of childhood obesity: an investigation of the role of junk food advertising

自20世纪70年代以来，澳大利亚儿童一直在不断变胖。每年对医疗费用的直接影响达8.3亿美元。大多数肥胖的孩子也会变成肥胖的成年人，这表明澳大利亚未来将面临健康危机。在儿童电视节目期间，垃圾食品广告非常多，被认为是导致儿童肥胖的主要原因，因为儿童非常容易受到广告建议的影响。本研究将帮助政策制定者决定对面向儿童的食品广告进行最适当的监管，并有可能降低澳大利亚儿童肥胖的比例，从而节省数十亿美元的医疗成本。

Australian children have been getting continuously fatter since the 1970s. The direct health cost implications amount to $830 million annually. Most fat kids also become fat adults, suggesting a future health crisis in Australia. Junk food advertising is extremely heavy during children's television and is thought to contribute greatly to childhood obesity because children are highly susceptible to the suggestions of ads. The present research will help policy makers decide the most appropriate regulation of food advertising to children, and has the potential to reduce the proportion of Australian kids who are fat, thereby saving billions of dollars in health costs.