A new study by a research team led by the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine (UNR Med), found that the foods advertised during National Football League (NFL) games, the most watched sporting events in the U.S., were frequently high in sodium, calories and fat content.
The study, published in , was a collaboration between UNR Med second-year medical student Nadya Vinsdata and Dean Paul J. Hauptman, M.D., with Lara Al-Zoubaidi, an undergraduate student studying nutrition at Saint Louis University, and R. Eric Heidel, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine. The study analyzed the salt and nutritional content of foods advertised during televised professional football games and the health implications these advertisements may have for consumer behavior, especially for patients with chronic medical conditions like heart failure, kidney failure and diabetes for whom dietary indiscretions can have a direct health impact.
“The effectiveness of sports advertising and paid sponsorships on food consumption has been extensively studied,” stated first author Al-Zoubaidi. “As a student in nutrition, I was particularly interested in understanding the degree to which advertised foods contain ingredients that could represent a threat to patient well-being. Our analysis revealed that the sodium content in these advertisements is significantly higher than the recommended daily intake, posing a serious health risk particularly for individuals with chronic conditions.”
Of the advertisements analyzed, the sodium content ranged from 220-1,872 mg per single serving, with the median 910 mg. According to the American Heart Association, the average American consumes more than 3,300 mg of sodium per day, well above the suggested daily intake of 2,300 mg. Excess sodium is most often found in processed and prepared foods, which are also frequently advertised during NFL games. The ideal limit for adults with many chronic medical conditions is significantly less; for example, studies have shown that reducing sodium intake for individuals with heart failure can significantly improve symptoms and quality-of-life. Ingesting excess fat and calories may also contribute to coronary artery disease and other conditions.
“We have shown definitively what many have long suspected,” said Dr. Hauptman, senior author. “While we cannot say that this observation is ubiquitous across all televised sporting events, it does highlight the need for clinicians to ask their patients with heart failure and many other chronic medical conditions about their television viewing habits and counsel them to avoid intake of many of the foods advertised during games, including the Super Bowl.”
The study concludes that the combination of frequent and extended viewing times and poor dietary choices may be maladaptive for both primary and secondary prevention of multiple chronic cardiovascular and other conditions, since watching NFL games is a sedentary activity and games are televised multiple times per week during the regular season. Therefore, it is crucial for individuals to be mindful of their viewing habits and dietary choices to mitigate potential health risks.
