Don’t Let Your Kids Suck the Glass Teat
Like we didn’t know this already:
A study slated for publication in the December American Journal of Preventive Medicine suggests that television viewing is positively associated with weight gain and hypertension among children, Reuters reports. Researchers from the University of California (UC)-San Diego, UC-San Francisco and the University of South Alabama evaluated the body mass indices, blood pressure and daily television watching habits of 546 children ages 4 to 17 between 2003 and 2005. The data, which was reviewed and confirmed by a physician, indicated a positive correlation between the amount of time children spent watching television and the severity of overweight. In addition, children who watched two to four hours of television per day were 2.5 times more likely to have hypertension than children who watched less than two hours of television daily. The risk of hypertension among children watching four or more hours of television daily, meanwhile, was 3.3 times greater than that among children watching less than two hours of television. Referencing prior evidence that minimizing screen time can spur weight loss, even without increasing physical activity, the researchers underscore the need for “considerable physician and family involvement to decrease TV time among obese children” (Reuters/Yahoo! News, 10/30/07; American Journal of Preventive Medicine release, 10/30/07).