Is "fat free" good for me? A panel study of television viewing and children's nutritional knowledge and reasoning.

The family diet is influenced by children's attitudes toward food, which in turn are influenced by television. In a panel study involving 134 children in 1st to 3rd grade, television viewing, nutritional knowledge, and nutritional reasoning were measured 6 weeks apart. Television viewing predicted subsequent decrements in nutritional knowledge and reasoning, but these findings were significant only for foods that tend to be heavily marketed as weight-loss aids. Television's framing of diet foods may confuse children by equating weight-loss benefits with nutritional benefits.