ABSTRACT

High consumption of ultra-processed food (UPF) products has been associated with obesity and non-communicable diseases, watching television (TV) is an important contributor to those outcomes, through the increase in sedentary activities and influence over food choices. This study was designed to explore the effects of ultra-processed food and beverages on Nigeria television channel.  A selected Television channel, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), a backup device, and enabled recording decoder and a study protocol developed  for the International Network for Food and Obesity/Non-Communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support (INFORMAS) was applied  for data collection and descriptive analysis was used to describe the types and forms of advertisements while inferential statistics (cross-tabulation and chi-square) was to identify the time bound difference in the various categories of food advertisements shown. A total of 144hour of Television programming was recorded from 06:00 to 24:00 hours for eight (8) consecutive days and a total of 302adverts were recorded within these hours. All Television adverts were analysed and food related adverts were classified according to the NOVA classification system.  A total of 302adverts were recorded for eight (8) consecutive days and for 18hours each day.  In total, majority (85.1%) of non-food related adverts and a few (14.8%) of food related adverts were shown. This research look forward to laying foundations through our results for effective regulations of Television advertisement and food related advertisements.  It is recommended that this research will help at providing a working policy on advertisement regulations on televisions to curb the high rate of ultra-processed food advertisement on Nigeria Television Authority (NTA).