Food Product Games May Lead To Unhealthy Eating

Some kids can't get enough of online games where they can pretend to run a candy factory or decorate cakes. But children who play with these games may eat more, and eat more junk food, even if the game features fruit or other healthful choices, according to new research.

Food industry critics have long bemoaned the fact that many popular food games for computers and other devices are actually "advergames", created by food manufacturers to market their products. Some argue marketing junk food to kids is unethical, even if it's through tiny bits of entertainment software.

To find out if advergames affect how children eat, Dutch researchers had 8- to 10-year-olds play either a game that featured a popular brand of candy, or one that featured fruit. Another group of children played an online game involving a toy. All the games tested the children's memory skills. Afterwards, the children were offered bowls of jelly candy, chocolate, sliced bananas, and apples.

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