Advertising of "junk food" is tightly controlled around children’s programmes in the UK – but this does not apply to the content, according to a new study.
Sweets and sweet snacks together with sugary drinks are often shown in a "positive light", researchers say.
Researchers watched more than 80 hours of programming and identified some 1,155 incidents involving food and drink.
Most incidents involved major characters, seen as "goodies."
In almost half of cases, food was judged to be unhealthy, and in 25% of incidents sugary drinks were used.
Professor Clodagh O’Gorman, of University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, compared the BBC with Irish programming – and said food and drink was seen more often in BBC children’s programmes.
Writing in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Professor O’Gorman says: "Eating and drinking are common activities within children specific programming, with unhealthy foods and beverages especially common and frequently associated with positive motivating factors, and seldom seen with negative outcomes."
Archives of Disease in Childhood 4 July 2014; doi 10.1136/archdischild-2013-305430 [abstract]
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