Meals and TV not a good mix for children

Children who eat their meals in front of a television (TV) set tend to sit there long after dinner is over, leading to weight gain. Several studies have shown that children and adults spending more time in front of a television are more likely to become obese. Recent reports also suggest that more than half of US households now indicate having the TV on during meals, although this practice appears to be less common among families of higher socioeconomic status, and with parents of higher educational attainment. The researchers at the University of California San Diego, USA studied 169 families with children and followed them from 6 to 12 years of age. TV remained the dominant media-related behaviour among youth, with the average child watching approximately 20 hours of TV per week. About 80 percent of 8 to 16 year old children reported watching more than 3 hours of TV daily. TV watching generally increased through early to middle childhood, peaking between the ages of 10 and 14 years. TV watching was related to weight status when children were younger, and in older children, more than 2 hours of TV was a risk factor for higher weight. Children were also slightly more likely to watch TV if they had more TVs in the house and if they had videocassette recorders (VCRs). Also they ate more while watching TV, which was consistently related to the increase in TV watching over time. Each meal eaten in front of television added 38 to 73 minutes of time to the total TV-watching in a day. There are good reasons for parents to limit the amount of television their children watch. Helping families reduce the frequency with which children eat meals while watching TV may be step towards decreasing children's TV time and childhood obesity. Also the link between watching television and violent behaviour is clear even after the researchers accounted for other factors such as childhood neglect, low family income or a psychiatric disorder during adolescence. Read more on Children and Television