Media Literacy Practices to Prevent Obesity and Eating Disorders in Youth.

Purpose Of Review: Obesity and eating disorders share common issues related to media use and effects, especially in the USA. Current research increasingly demonstrates that media literacy can address this problem. This narrative review highlights current media literacy-based research for obesity and eating disorder prevention among youth.

A Media Literacy-Based Nutrition Program Fosters Parent-Child Food Marketing Discussions, Improves Home Food Environment, and Youth Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables.

Media use is a known contributor to childhood obesity, but encouraging reductions in screen use only partially eliminates media influence. We tested a family-centered, media literacy-oriented intervention to empower parents and children 9-14 years to skillfully use media to reduce marketing influences, enhance nutrition knowledge, improve the selection of foods in the home environment, and improve fruit and vegetable consumption. A community-based, 6-U program included separate parent and youth (ages 9-14 years) sessions, each of which was followed by a session together in which skills from the individual sessions were reinforced.