Getting kids to eat healthy and nutritious food is one of the biggest challenges any parent has to face today. No matter how lovingly prepared, children have started developing a taste for international, branded food instead of their healthy homemade counterparts. Why is it that they prefer burgers from KFC than the ones you made at home with free range chickens, organic eggs and multigrain buns?

Children’s fascination with packaged and processed foods are no longer restricted to the west. Kids from South Asian and third world countries are also developing a preference for them. And unlike what is commonly believed, it’s not the palate pleasing taste that draws them to it. Researchers have found that the media has a large role to play in it.

According to a paper published in Journal of Children and Media, a team of researchers have found that children from India, Pakistan, Brazil, China, Nigeria and Russia are influenced by marketing and media exposure, which explains their liking for international foods.

The children who could identify logos of international food and beverage brands such as McDonalds, KFC, and Coca-Cola were more likely to prefer processed foods marketed on the media. The principal investigator of the study Dina Borzekowski from the University of Maryland in the US said that the study reveals the manner in which the media influences poor eating choices among children.

In the study, 2422 children between the ages of 5 and 6 from the abovementioned countries were studied. They found that three fourths could name Tom and Jerry and two-thirds could name Mickey Mouse. They were also asked to match logos with the items they represent and 60 percent of the subjects were able to associate the Coca-Cola swirl with the image of a glass, revealing a clear preference for brands.

The researchers believe that this familiarity with the logos could be a clear reason why the children from countries like India, Russia, China, Pakistan, etc. have developed a preference for international, branded food instead of locally prepared ones.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 08, 2018 11:55 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).