SALON

Friday, Sep 28, 2012 12:50 PM UTC

Brainwashed by junk food

A new study reveals that fast-food logos are "imprinted" on children's minds

By

Topics: Logos, Chain Restaurants, Branding, Fast food, McDonald's, AlterNet, Business, Burger King, ,

Brainwashed by junk food (Credit: AP/Richard Drew)
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

AlterNet Do your children light up when they see those golden arches?

Well, they’re surely not alone. A new study released this week showed that brain activity in areas connected to rewards and appetite control increased in children when they were shown well-known fast food logos.

Researchers from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Kansas Medical Center showed children, ages 10-14, 120 popular company logos — 60 food and 60 non-food logos. During this process, researchers used MRI technology to scan the children’s brains and monitor their activity. The study found that fast-food logos triggered an increase in brain activity compared to the non-food logos.

Researcher Dr. Amanda Bruce said that while viewing fast food logos, the children’s increased brain activity was not that much different than when the children saw actual food. She said children’s interest and familiarity with food logos is “concerning,” as the logos are marketing food that is unhealthy.

Dr. Bruce told The Independent that this is especially worrisome as areas in the brain that provide self-control are not fully developed in children:

The theory is the increase in risk-taking behavior in adolescence is attributed to uneven development in brain regions associated with cognitive control and emotional drive…The brains of children are ‘imprinted’ with food logos. Without the necessary inhibitory processes to aid in decision-making, youth are particularly susceptible to making poor choices about what to eat.

Prior to this study, Dr. Bruce’s team had also found that the brain of obese youth react faster with interest for fast food logos than youth with a healthy weight.

Dr. Bruce added that children’s brains are branded very early in life.

She said, “Some research finds that children identify the golden arches for McDonald’s before they know the letter M.”

More Alyssa Figueroa.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations