Less Meals in Front of TV Helps in Cutting Junk Food Consumption

Programs aimed at less screen time among children may help in reducing the number of meals they have in front of TV, a new study revealed.

Meal time away from TV is important as children and even adults eat more while watching television, especially junk food. Many studies have found kids addicted to TV consuming more junk food and avoiding healthy food like fruits and vegetables, putting them at higher risks of childhood obesity.

"The relationship between screen time and obesity is linked to eating in front of a screen," Dr. Catherine S. Birken, a pediatrician at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, told Reuters Health.

Apart from obesity, children glued to TV for long hours are found to experience problems with language development and behavior. Such children have been found more likely to smoke cigarettes.

"These are really important health outcomes in young children," Birken told Reuters. "So we need to understand what works and what doesn't."

For examining the role of early intervention, Birken and colleagues included 64 three-year-old children and their parents attending annual checkups in clinics around Toronto area. During the study, researchers educated parents about negative effects of children watching TV for long hours and possible methods to reduce the trend like removing TV from children's rooms and switching off TV during meal time.

Researchers, however, after one year found the program not helping to reduce TV time. Children were found watching TV between 60 and 65 minutes on weekdays and 80 or 90 minutes on weekends.

Even though investigators didn't find significant changes in children's body mass index (BMI), they found considerable reduction in the number of meals children used to take while watching TV (from 2 meals to 1.6 meals).

"I don't think there is much harm in turning the TV off during meals. I think that is a good message either way," Reuters quoted Birken, as saying.

Results of the study have been published online Nov.5 in Pediatrics.