Media Moguls are Contributing Culprits to Child Obesity Epidemic, Says Expert

At a time when parents are finding it difficult to tear their children from sweets amid nonstop advertising of low-nutrient, high-caloric foods, a top leader from the nation's largest public policy woman's organization is criticizing the media's impact on America's growing epidemic of childhood obesity.

"Alarming obesity rates are posing a very real health crisis for the next generation, and the media is a contributing culprit," said Dr. Janice Crouse, director and senior fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, in a released statement this past week. "Children's diet inclinations are shaped at a very young age and are largely persuaded by the advertisements they see on TV and other media outlets."

A new Federal Communications Commission task force, made up of experts from various fields, was installed recently to examine the media's impact on childhood obesity rates. The task force will be headed by Crouse, who is to serve on the team of experts to seek new ways to ensure that children are exposed to media and advertisements that promote healthy lifestyles including nutrition and exercise.

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Crouse's recent comments mirror a national Kaiser Family Foundation research released Tuesday that examined how kids have been flooded with commercials of junk foods, putting warnings in the largest-ever study of commercials aimed at children. The study monitored how often and frequently children between the ages of 2-12 saw food ads on TV.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said that the Kaiser Family Foundation study on health and nutrition would prove helpful to the task force and warned against neglecting the severity of the issue at hand.

"We now have data that conclusively shows kids are seeing an overwhelming number of ads for unhealthy food on all types of TV shows," Harkin said, according to the Associated Press. "The 'childhood obesity epidemic' isn't just a catch phrase. It's a real public health crisis."

According to a National Health Examination Survey, the percentage of overweight children has more than tripled over the past 40 years. American companies spend $15 billion a year marketing and advertising to children under the age of 12, twice the amount spent 10 years ago. Children influence about $500 billion in annual spending on products like cereal, candy and fast food.

"The media could play a huge role in instilling healthy habits among young people," said Crouse, who will spend the next few months strategizing to create a healthier America for the nation's children. "Instead, some advertising bombards children with positive images of foods that are high in fat and low in nutrition."

While there are approximately nine million obese children over the age of six documented by the Institute of Medicine, about 15.6 percent of American children between 12 and 19 were obese in 2002, up from 6.1 percent in 1974, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.