If You Watched A Lot Of Nickelodeon Cartoons, You Were Probably A Fat Kid
If you had more than just a little baby fat back in the day, your obsession with cartoons like "Spongebob Squarepants" may be to blame.
I know this might sound pretty shocking, especially considering your beloved yellow sponge basically has the most impressive thigh gap in all of Bikini Bottom.
But I'm not blaming Spongebob for making us all fat by leading us to believe that mayonnaise is actually an instrument.
Or that you can inhale a wumbo amount of thunder-thigh inducing Krabby Patties without looking like a beached whale, either.
Apparently, the pudgy problem lies in the commercials that coincide with Nickelodeon cartoons.
A study published by Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) revealed that nearly two-thirds of the food commercials aired during popular Nickelodeon shows like "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "Fairly Odd Parents" are for unhealthy junk foods.
Yep, I'm pretty sure we all remember watching a shit ton of loud, colorful commercials for Trix Cereal, Lucky Charms, Gushers and Go-Gurt like it was just yesterday.
If that's not bad enough, researchers also analyzed 14 hours of Nickelodeon programming and did not find a single advertisement for fruits or veggies within the endless sea of nutritionally-worthless junk food commercials.
According to CSPI nutrition policy director, Margo G. Wootan,
Nickelodeon congratulates itself for running the occasional public service announcement promoting physical activity. But for each of those messages, it's running 30 ads for junk food. Nickelodeon is clearly doing far more harm than good when it comes to the health of America's young people.
So then, what's the big deal with showing kids a lot of unhealthy food advertisements?
Well, it turns out that there's a pretty strong link between junk food commercials and childhood obesity.
A study conducted at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City recently found that unhealthy food commercials can have a pretty big impact on a kids' brains and can even influence their decisions.
Wootan pointed out that these brainwashing commercials are a serious problem because "junk food is making kids overweight, and contributing to the earlier onset of diabetes and other health problems."
As the number of overweight kids and teens continues to skyrocket, it's not hard to see why so many people are raising concerns about the prevalence of these commercials in kids' television programs.
So, if you're looking to finally say "goodbye" to some of that baby fat once and for all, you might want to put down the Fruit Roll-Ups and start fast forwarding through the commercials that come on in-between your favorite cartoons.
Citations: Does Watching 'Spongebob Squarepants' Make Kids Fat? (Vice)
