MELBOURNE, Australia - Toys can have a significant influence on the eating choices of children, Australian research has found.

The study, published by the Cancer Council of Victoria on Tuesday, found that children aged between 5 and 9 years old were more likely to choose a healthy food option if the meal came with a free toy, such as a character from a popular movie.

More than 1,000 children were offered a number of healthy and unhealthy meal choices after watching a trailer for a film.

Overall, children were more likely to choose the unhealthy option, but the interest in the healthy meals increased significantly when a toy was offered.

Jane Martin, a member of the Obesity Policy Coalition, said that the study proved that the marketing around unhealthy food choices aimed at children should be restricted.

"It's very, very hard to protect your kids from this kind of promotion; it's virtually impossible," Martin said.

"With one in four Australian kids currently overweight or obese, we should be supporting parents to make healthier choices, and not setting them up to battle with their kids over unhealthy food.

"I think that most children would not be requesting to go into a fast food franchise without the toy and the collectibles."

She added that toys and giveaways should only be allowed to be paired with healthy options.

"It shows that these kinds of promotions can be used in a way to harness children's interest and desires, and use it to put healthy food in front of them," Martin said.

Helen Dixon, lead researcher from the CCV, agreed with Martin, saying companies should have to fulfill nutrition criteria before giveaway promotions could be run.

"We know from analysis of advertising content on TV and other media that unhealthy food products like sweets, breakfast cereals, sugary junk food, snack food, fast food is very much overrepresented," Dixon said.

"We know marketing works, companies wouldn't invest so much in it if they didn't think it worked."

Xinhua