his Super Bowl Sunday, keep an eye out for bad calls, fouls and dangerous sodium levels.
Foods advertised in National Football League commercials contain an average of nearly 40% of the daily recommended sodium intake, according to a new study.
“We proved what probably a lot of people have long suspected, and that is that foods advertised during NFL games … are frequently high in sodium and calories and fat content,” said senior study author Dr. Paul Hauptman, dean of the University of Nevada, Reno’s School of Medicine and chief academic officer for Renown Health.
Researchers recorded 10 NFL games between September 2023 and November 2023 and analyzed the number and duration of commercials advertising food products. The team then looked at the nutritional information of those foods.
About 10% of the content, or 102 commercials, were advertising food, according to the study published Thursday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The sodium content of those foods ranged from 220 milligrams to 1,872 milligrams, with a median amount of 910 milligrams, the study showed.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends people consume less than 2,300 milligrams per day.
Fast-food restaurants advertised the products with the highest amount of sodium, the researchers found.