Can manga be used to influence children into making healthier snack choices? A recent article posted in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior may have proof. Dr. May May Leung, an assistant professor at City University of New York, conducted a pilot study to determine whether exposing urban youths to manga with multiple messages promoting fruit intake influenced their snack selection.
Fifty-seven youth attending after-school programs in Brooklyn, NY were randomly assigned to receive an original manga titled “Fight for Your Right to Fruit” or a non-health-related newsletter. After reading the material, the children were offered their choice of snacks from among healthy/unhealthy options. Leung found that the children who read the manga were significantly more likely to choose a healthy snack.
The same could probably be said of certain anime shows like One Piece, which depicts the main character Luffy receiving extraordinary powers after consuming one of the legendary Devil Fruits. So the next time your parents get on your case about watching One Piece, just tell them you’re learning about making healthier snack choices.
To read more about Dr. Leung’s study please click this link. So, what do you think? Does anime help you make better food choices?
Be sure to catch new episodes of One Piece every Saturday on http://onepieceofficial.com!
I would think that any form of media anime or not could influence certain lifestyle choices. As far as food goes I can say that shows like Ouran and Death Note that (despite their drastic differences) predominately feature sweets made me want to eat sweets. Still, I wouldn’t tie my choice to eat fruit to someone like Luffy because I don’t care if I got a cool power I am not giving up my ability to swim.