Story highlights A new study finds that nearly half of advertisements for children's foods and beverages target parents

Ads targeting parents often promote health benefits of products that do not meet federal health standards

(CNN) Children are treated to a buffet of television ads for juice drinks, cereals and snacks that feature fun characters and humor. And parents see almost as many commercials for children's food products, but their ads promote nutrition and family togetherness, according to a new study.

Researchers looked through a database of all the TV advertisements for packaged foods and beverages in the United States between 2013 and 2014. They singled out the products intended for children as those advertised on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and other kids' channels, and then looked for ads for these products that aired on other channels.

The researchers concluded that 25 of the 51 food products intended for children were also advertised specifically to parents during the period, based on the fact that the ads featured scenes of parental figures and children playing, hugging or kissing. Of all the airtime that ads for children's food products got, parents were targeted 42% of the time.

"It is a dual-pronged approach where food manufacturers are targeting kids to pester (their parents) for these products, and then manufacturers are marketing to parents to get them to think these products are healthy and not to feel guilty about buying them," said Jennifer A. Emond, epidemiology instructor at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine. Emond is the lead author of the study, which was published on Sunday in the journal Pediatrics.

Read More