Just ONE hour of TV a day doubles the risk of a child becoming overweight or obese

April 28, 2015  19:59

Children who watch even one hour of TV a day have a significantly higher risk of becoming overweight or obese, researchers have warned.

According to The Daily Mail, those who watched as little as 60 minutes were more likely to have weight problems compared to youngsters who watched TV for less than 60 minutes each day.

Previous research has shown that children who watch a lot of TV are at risk of being overweight. 

But this is the first to look specifically at the link between TV watching and obesity among five-year-olds, the authors claim.  

They are now calling for more stringent recommendations on how much television children should watch.

For the study, researchers analysed figures from 11,000 children who were in kindergarten during the 2011-2012 school year.

As part of the study, lifestyle factors that could affect a child's educational performance were collected from parents, including the number of hours of TV children watched on weekdays and at weekends, and how often they used computers. 

The children's weight and height were also measured.

A year later, 10,853 of the children's height and weight were measured, and parents again were asked about their child's TV habits.

The results showed that US kindergartners watched an average of 3.3 hours of TV a day.

However children who watched more than two hours daily had significantly higher body mass indexes (BMI) than those who watched less than 30 minutes or 30 to 60 minutes a day.

This held even after factors such as family income, race and computer use were taken into account. 

In both kindergarten and first grade, children viewing as little as one hour of TV daily were 50 to 60 per cent more likely to be overweight and 58 per cent to 73 per cent more likely to be obese compared to those watching less than an hour.

However, computer use was not associated with higher weight.

And children who watched one hour or more of TV daily were 39 per cent more likely to become overweight and 86 per cent more likely to become obese between kindergarten and first grade.

Study author Dr Mark DeBoer, associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Virginia, said: 'Given overwhelming evidence connecting the amount of time TV viewing and unhealthy weight, paediatricians and parents should attempt to restrict childhood TV viewing."

Health experts currently recommend limiting children and teenagers to less than two hours of screen time each day.

However, Dr DeBoer said even that might be too much.

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