Dr.’s Notes Script

TV has become a dominant influence in the lives of most of us but especially children. On average, children watch more than 3 hours of television every day (often more on weekends). During this time children see about 40 000 television commercials per year. Programs designed for children show one food commercial every 5 minutes.

Then we wonder why our children are becoming obese at an alarming rate.

In a study reported in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine researchers studied the eating and TV viewing habits of 548 students (average age of 12 years). They found that each hour increase in television viewing resulted in eating an additional 167 calories daily. They also observed that they ate more unhealthy foods and were more sedentary.

The bottom line of their research was this. Kids ate more of the foods advertised on TV. The kinds of foods advertised tend to be less healthy, highly processed, and higher in calories. As hours of TV viewing increased, calorie intake went up and the nutritional value of food went down. That should cause parents to be doubly concerned.

In a nut shell, limit total TV viewing time which increases food consumption and decreases activity time