TV in bedroom 'risk factor' for child obesity

Conclusion This analysis used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to assess for long-term associations between television and computer use and body fat in children. It found that compared to children who didn't have a TV in their bedroom at age seven, children who did had a significantly higher BMI and FMI at the age of 11. The association was higher for girls than boys. This is an interesting study however there are a few points to note: Although the researchers adjusted for potential confounding factors, diet and physical activity were not adjusted for. An unhealthy diet and lack of physical activity are two of the biggest contributors to obesity so it's surprising that these weren't looked into. It's quite likely that children who spend a large amount of time in front of screen-based media don't spend quite as much time getting exercise outdoors or through team sports etc. However as we don't have data on the level of physical activity of these children, we are unable to make that conclusion either. Interestingly, the dataset for the MCS represented different ethnicities but in this particular analysis 84.6% of the children were white. Genetics and cultural differences do have an impact on children's behaviours so it would have been interesting to see whether children from different ethnic backgrounds had different results. Overall this study doesn't prove that watching TV or having a TV in your bedroom directly increases body fat. However, the link between in...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Pregnancy/child Source Type: news