Are TV ads making your kids fat?

Fast food companies are in your child’s brain — and you may not be aware how much.

A new study finds that television ads from fast food restaurants are being targeted at children, and those that absorb them the most tend to consume the unhealthy food more often than families that don’t see as many ads, according to a HealthDay News report.

Since parents ultimately make the decision whether or not to go get fast food, they may underestimate how much of an impact fast food companies have on family eating decision when they market to kids. But a study finds that families tend to eat fast food more often when kids are marketed to more often, and fast food companies know this.

The researchers found that when a free toy is offered, children can be especially influenced to ask their parents for fast food. And the study shows a clear correlation between more TV watching and more fast food trips.

A total of 100 children were examined for the study, according to a news release from Elsevier Health Sciences and published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The children were between the ages of 3 and 7. The parents were also surveyed.

The researchers asked questions about TV habits, how often they ate fast food, and how often kids got toys with their meals. They found that 37 percent more parents visited one of the two fast food chains featured more frequently than those who did not watch as much TV. About 54 percent of the time, kids had asked to be taken to the restaurant. Further, 83 percent of children who got toys asked to eat at the restaurant again.

What’s the solution? Families should focus on reducing the amount of TV watching that goes on in the house, and not allow children to have TVs in their bedrooms.