London - It has long been recognised that sitting in front of the television for too long can be bad for a child’s health.
Now researchers have come up with startling findings that pinpoint the dangers of a couch potato lifestyle.
They say that young children who watch just one hour of TV a day are up to 73 percent more likely to be obese than those who view less. And if they watch more than an hour they are 86 percent more likely to become obese between the ages of five and six.
The drastic deterioration in their health occurs partly because they are watching too many adverts for junk food which persuade them to eat unhealthy meals, the study authors claimed.
The researchers also said that the damage happened far quicker and younger than they had anticipated. As a result of the findings, they urged parents to limit TV time to no more than an hour a day to give their children a healthier start in life.
The US study looked at 12 650 children who started kindergarten aged around five years old in autumn 2011.
Researchers measured the height and weight of each child, which were used to calculate their body mass index – a measure of whether an individual is overweight – and parents were asked how much time their children spent in front of the TV.
The researchers found that on average children were watching 3.3 hours a day. A year later the researchers carried out the same tests on 10 853 of the children.
At the ages of five and six, children viewing just one hour of TV daily were 50 to 60 percent more likely to be overweight compared to those watching less than an hour. They were also between 58 percent and 73 percent more likely to be obese.
Meanwhile those who watched one hour or more of TV daily were 39 percent more likely to become overweight and 86 percent more likely to become obese between the ages of five and six.
Explaining the results, study author Dr Mark DeBoer, of the University of Virginia, said children who spent hours slumped in front of the TV had a “reduced amount of energy expenditure, a decrease in sleep, and increased eating opportunities – fuelled in part by unhealthy food commercials on TV”.
“Children watching one to two hours were heavier than those watching less than one hour, and were almost as heavy as those watching greater than two hours daily,” he added.
Dr DeBoer, whose findings were presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in San Diego, California, said that health authorities should consider reducing the amount of time they say that children should spend watching TV. In the US the limit is no more than two hours a day.
“Based on the results of our study, we would recommend no more than one hour of TV”, Dr DeBoer said.
“We recommend that parents place limits on how much TV their children watch and replace viewing time with opportunities for physical activity and educational activities”.
NHS guidelines state that children under five should “minimise” their time in front of a screen and be physically active for three hours a day.
Daily Mail