Television viewing affects many aspects of child development, especially eating habits. One of the studies published in 1995investigating the content of children television programs showed that foods, especially high-fat or high-sugar foods, are frequently advertised on children’s television programs. A later study conducted in 2001 revealed that in households in which the television is on during meals, children consume more red meat, pizza, snack foods and soda and fewer fruits and vegetables. The purpose of this presentation is to report a 2004 study by Donna Matheson and team comparing the amounts and types of foods that children consume while watching television and when the television is off.14/15
In this study, three nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls that included 2 weekdays and 1 weekend day were conducted and the children were the primary respondents. Two sample groups were third-grade children participating in a school-based randomized clinical trial on reducing television viewing and fifth-grade children drawn from a school-based clinical trial to reduce obesity. The children were asked about the types of activities they participated in while eating. The activities included watching television, watching a videotape, playing on a computer, doing homework, or riding in a vehicle. 4/5
The findings of the study revealed that food was consumed more often during television viewing than while participating in other activities. The average energy intake during television viewing was similar in both samples and was higher on weekend days than on weekdays. In both the third-grade and fifth-grade samples, there were no significant differences between the percentage of energy from fat and the energy density of foods consumed during television viewing and those of foods consumed at other times on either week days or weekend days. In the third-grade sample’s weekday data, the correlation between the children’s BMI and the percentage of energy from fat consumed during television viewing was significant. 3/5
These findings support the speculation that eating while watching television is a potential mechanism linking television viewing to obesity. These results serve to justify future experimental studies to test this hypothesis. Since the correlational results differed between the samples of two ethnically diverse groups, it is suggested that this research should be replicated in a large multiethnic sample. Interventions designed to help children change their types of foods consumed during television viewing, reduce food consumption during television viewing, or even reduce television viewing may markedly change children's dietary intake patterns.8/10