Today’s Solutions: March 28, 2024

Good nutrition is essential for everyone, but it’s especially important for growing teenagers. However, due to the attractive and addictive nature of junk food, public-health researchers have been struggling for decades to get teens to adopt healthier diets. One of the biggest obstacles is the enormous volume of food marketing kids are exposed to every day. This type of marketing is designed to foster strong positive associations with junk food in kids’ minds and drive overeating, which in its turn leads to the obesity problem that the US is facing. Now, after years of research, scientists might have finally found a solution to this challenge. A new study suggests that a simple and brief intervention can provide lasting protection for adolescents against these harmful effects of food marketing. The research has found that reframing how students view food-marketing campaigns can spur adolescents, particularly boys, to make healthier daily dietary choices for an extended period of time. The method works in part by tapping into teens’ natural desire to rebel against authority. Drawing from this, researchers managed to change kids’ eating behavior by reading them articles framing corporations as manipulative marketers trying to hook consumers on addictive junk food for financial gain. The stories also described deceptive product labels and advertising practices that target vulnerable populations, including very young children and the poor. The researchers found that, after being exposed to such claims, children chose fewer junk food snacks and selected water over sugary sodas the next day in the cafeteria. Appealing to teenagers’ natural impulse to “stick it to the man” and their developmentally heightened sense of fairness may finally provide a way for the public-health community to compete against dramatically-better-funded junk food marketers.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Rowing against the current: Botswana’s women safari guides inspire and empower

In the calm of Botswana's Okavango Delta, where the morning sun creates a golden glow on the water's surface, an amazing metamorphosis is occurring. ...

Read More

The future of healing: 3D printing skin directly onto open wounds

Pennsylvania State University researchers achieved a major medical science breakthrough by being the first team ever to 3D print real human skin tissue directly ...

Read More

These solar-powered barges can scoop up 50 tons of plastic from rivers each day

While removing the plastic waste that currently contaminates the ocean today will be crucial for protecting marine ecosystems, it is arguably more important that ...

Read More

A bold step towards climate action and job creation: The American Climate Corps

The White House announced the creation of the American Climate Corps, a breakthrough program that will transform the climate action landscape. This ambitious project ...

Read More