Assessing the longitudinal relationship between Peruvian children’s TV exposure and unhealthy food consumption

Studies have shown that heavy television exposure is a risk factor for childhood overweight and obesity. This relationship is most typically attributed to the influence of food advertising. Despite this growing array of studies, one limitation is that these studies have focused almost exclusively on high-income countries. It is unclear whether such findings hold true in low- or middle-income countries. To address this gap, this study investigated the relationship between television exposure and unhealthy snack consumption (a risk factor for childhood overweight/obesity) in a sample of Peruvian children aged 6–13 (n = 265). Results indicate that television exposure is indeed cross-sectionally and longitudinally related with unhealthy snack consumption. But for children from high socioeconomic status families, this relationship is even more pronounced. These findings justify efforts to help parents manage their children’s television viewing as well as efforts to regulate food advertising in Peru.