This simple trick could make teenagers ‘shun junk food’, scientists claim

It’s a phase that many youngsters go through, but it seems that teenage rebellion could actually be harnessed to help teens to shun junk food.

A new study has revealed that that altering the way teenagers see adverts for fast food companies can lead to a change in dietary choices.

In the study, researchers from Chicago Booth University gave students an ‘expose-style article’ suggesting fast-food companies were trying to ‘hook consumers on addictive junk food for financial gain.’

The teens were then asked to choose foods in their school cafeteria.

Results revealed that teenage boys opted for healthier dietary options, with researchers linking this choice to the pupil’s desire to rebel.

Christopher Bryan, an author of the study, said: "Food marketing is deliberately designed to create positive emotional associations with junk food, to connect it with feelings of happiness and fun.

"What we've done is turn that around on the food marketers by exposing this manipulation to teenagers, triggering their natural strong aversion to being controlled by adults.

"If we could make more kids aware of that, it might make a real difference."

Boys involved in the study reduced their daily purchases of unhealthy drinks and snacks in the school cafeteria by 31% in three months compared with the control group, the study said.

It added: "The study was less conclusive about the intervention's effect on teen girls' cafeteria purchases.

"Although, like boys, girls experienced a more negative immediate gut response to junk food after the expose intervention, their daily cafeteria purchases were similar whether they read the expose or the traditional health education material."

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