Tv food advertising geared to children in Latin-American countries and Hispanics in the USA: a review.

INTRODUCTION Obesity is a pandemic disease in Latin America. The purpose of this review was to analyze the studies exploring food advertising in TV conducted in Latin-American countries and in the USA geared to Hispanics. METHODS An electronic literature search was conducted in the MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, SCIELO, and CINAHL, databases and open access internet, of food advertising directed to children in TV in Latin American countries and Hispanics living in the USA, published from 1985 to January, 2015 RESULTS: Twenty three studies were found, six were conducted in Chile, five in Mexico, four in Brazil, three among Hispanics in the USA, and one in each of the following countries: Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Honduras and Venezuela. A high exposure of TV food advertised is geared toward children and their family. This exposure has been shown to be associated with the preference and purchase of those foods by adults and children with a high BMI, overweight and obesity. CONCLUSION An alarming high exposure of the TV food advertised directed toward children was reported, which warrants effective regulations, supervision and accountability.