Top sports leagues promote unhealthy eating behaviour

 New York, March 26: Top sports leagues may be contributing to the escalating obesity epidemic among children and adolescents as the majority of food and beverages marketed through sponsorship of these events are unhealthy, says a US-based study. “Unhealthy food and beverage promotion through organised sports is pervasive,” said the study’s lead investigator Marie Bragg, Assistant Professor at New York University School of Medicine. “These organisations must put forth a better effort to protect their youngest and most impressioble fans,” she added. For the study researchers alysed Nielsen statistics of televised sports programmes among children 2-17 years of age.  The study found that, among the 10 most watched sports organisations, most of the food products were rated “unhealthy” under the guidelines of the Nutrient Profile Model, a profiling system that identifies nutritious value in Britain and Australia. (IANS)