Most of us watch cooking shows on TV for both entertainment and educational purposes. Cooking shows promoting healthy and unhealthy food have the potential to impact our food preferences. Read on to understand how food-related programs are influencing our food choices.
The worldwide prevalence of obesity has almost tripled in the last 4 decades.
A study examined 100 entrée recipes from the five bestselling cookbooks by U.K. television chefs, and not one of them was found to fully comply with the World Health Organization’s dietary recommendations.
However, research has also shown that cooking shows can also have a strong positive impact on our food choices, especially of children, when endorsing a healthy style of cooking.
Impact of Cooking Shows
Here’s what research has revealed regarding the impact of food-related programs on viewers.
Sweet Tooth
Picture credits: Image by pvproductions on Freepik
Women who watch cooking shows on TV quite often are more likely to consume sweet snacks and also tend to eat more sweet snacks while watching food-related programs.
Women who watch cooking shows for inspiration and frequently cook dishes also report a higher BMI (an indicator of body fat content) when compared to those who watch these shows but do not cook.
For the Grown-Ups
For adults, a simple shift toward healthier recipes on TV can elicit healthier food choices
Watching food-related television programs increased caloric intake compared to non-food-related television programs among adults
The Little Ones – Positive or Negative Impact?
While watching TV cooking shows can make children consume higher amounts of unhealthy foods, a study showed that cooking shows can also endorse healthier eating habits.
In fact, research has shown that when children aged 9 to 12 years watched one episode of an entertaining TV cooking show endorsing healthy food, their appetite for less healthy food decreased.
However, to alter a child’s negative attitude toward fruits and vegetables requires repetitive exposure over time.
The Health Conscious
Among restrained eaters, such as those on a diet or those who report a high BMI, there is an association between increased calorie intake and watching food-related TV shows.
Picture credits: Image by pvproductions on Freepik
The Complete Chef
Cook shows also influence the viewers to potentially purchase the food they see being prepared, along with kitchen items, and cookbooks that are written by the celebrity chefs
Takeaway
- More exposure to food-related programs increases calorie intake in adults
Healthy cooking shows can positively influence a child’s food choices
Picture credits: Image by Freepik
Source
- Ngqangashe Y, De Backer CJ, Hudders L, Hermans N, Vandebosch H, Smits T. An experimental investigation of the effect of TV cooking show consumption on children’s food choice behavior. International journal of consumer studies. 2018 Jul;42(4):402-8.
- Fong Y. Impact of television cooking shows on food preferences. California State University, Long Beach; 2015.
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