Your big, fat, stupid kids might be that way because they’re bombarded with images of delicious foods on Spanish-language TV stations and not because you buy them nothing but deep-fried Cheetos dipped in fudge:

Spanish-language television is bombarding children with so many fast-food commercials that it may be fueling the rising obesity epidemic among Latino youth, according to research led by pediatricians from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Latino children, who make up one-fifth of the U.S. child population, also have the highest obesity and overweight rates of all ethnic groups.

Our excuse? Our parents and grandparents grew up in exile and thought government cheese was a luxury, so were in constant fear we would starve if we didn’t finish every last bite of our purée de malanga-and-five-sticks-of-butter. God, puberty was awesome.

Researchers reviewed 60 hours of programming airing between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m., heavy viewing hours for school-age children, on Univision and Telemundo, the two largest Spanish-language channels in the United States, reaching 99 percent and 93 percent of U.S. Latino households, respectively. Univision content was recorded from its national network cable in Seattle, and Telemundo content was recorded on a local carrier in Tucson, Ariz.

Tallying two or three food commercials each hour, the investigators said one-third specifically targeted children. Nearly half of all food commercials featured fast food, and more than half of all drink commercials promoted soda and drinks with high sugar content.

So why aren’t little kids suddenly overcome with the urge to wear lycra miniskirts and lucite heels while cooing the news from behind a glass news anchors’ desk? Like we are. Constantly.

Child obesity seen as fueled by Spanish language tv ads [Eureka Alert]