New York, November 21: Television commercials jingling praises for junk foods may be the one reason children are putting on weight alarmingly. A recent study indicated that fast food advertisements on the television contribute towards childhood obesity; and banning them can bring down the swelling numbers.

Economists say that vetoing food ads that go through children's TV shows can cut down on the number of obese children by 18 percent and obese teenagers by around 14 percent in the United States.

This research finds a direct correlation between TV food commercials shown on TV and obesity occurrence in children.

Michael Grossman, economics professor from the University of New York, said, "There is not a lot of evidence that overweight kids are more likely to watch TV than other kids. We’re arguing the causality is how many messages are aired -- seeing more of these messages is leading people to put on weight."

Economists Shin-Yi Chou from Lehigh College and Inas Rashad from Georgia State University have co-authored the study, which is published in the latest issue of 'The Journal of Law and Economics'.

Council of Better Business Bureaus spokesman, Elaine Kolish, quoted that the statistics are used from a previous data in 1990s and are not latest. In a campaign to advertise healthy food products for kids under 12, Burger King, McDonald's and other fast food companies signed the council's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Apple sticks and low-fat milk are been advertised by Burger King and McDonald's through children's shows.

"I can’t help think that two huge chains advertising apples and milk to kids is going to be affecting children's preferences," commented Kolish.

"That said, food marketing is blight on the landscape of our children and has been shown time and again to have a negative impact," said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy. According to Brownell, economists have to consider numerous assumptions in the course of the study to correctly analyze the influence of TV commercials on children's obesity.

So far, only Sweden, Norway and Finland could actually ban commercial sponsorship of children's shows on the television but the researchers doubt enforcement of a similar ban in the United States.

Study researchers think that doing away with federal tax deductions for fast food ads targeting children can be a good solution, as it may control growing number of obese children by 5 to 7 percent.