Consuming media, consuming food? Reactivity to palatable food cues in television content

Television (TV) viewing is an important contributor to the development of obesity. An often-proposed reason is that while watching TV, people are continually exposed to palatable (tasty, yet often unhealthy) food, which may trigger overeating. This article gives an overview of doctoral research investigating to what extent, for whom, and through what processes expo-sure to palatable food cues on TV may increase unhealthy eating. Findings show that watching TV content with palatable food cues produces some psychological reactivity (i.e., heightened mental accessibility of a hedonic eating goal and visual attention to food), but only for highly susceptible people, for some TV content, and briefly. No evidence was found that activa-tion of these psychological processes resulted in behavioural reactivity (increased unhealthy food choices and food intake). In conclusion, the influence of exposure to palatable food cues in TV content on immediate unhealthy eating may be less evident than is often thought.