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Memes may contribute to teenage obesity, lawmakers told

Accepted submission by Anonymous Coward at 2018-10-19 21:19:18
Science

Memes carry dangerous health-related messages and make light of unhealthy eating habits, researchers from Loughborough University wrote in a letter sent to a British parliamentary committee.

"A substantial number of individuals on Twitter share health-related Internet memes, with both positive and negative messages," they wrote, noting that many "contain inappropriate material."

A picture of an overweight child with the caption "Free food? Count me in!" was sent along with the letter as an example of a meme the researchers found dangerous.

The academics were also concerned by a meme that created a human-like body from pictures of pizzas and hamburgers, with frankfurters used for limbs and a smiley-faced potato for a face.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/internet-memes-obesity-intl/index.html [cnn.com]


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