TV watching and childhood obesity

TV watching is often given as one of the primary reasons for the increased incidence of childhood obesity.

This is because many studies show a correlation between TV watching and weight. In other words, kids who watch more TV seem to be heavier.

In the January issue of the Journal of the American Dietetics Association this correlation was seen again. 8,459 children were tracked from kindergarten through third grade with the following results:
* “Children who watched more television and ate fewer family meals were more likely to be overweight for the first time at spring semester of third grade.
* Children who watched more television, ate fewer family meals, and lived in neighborhoods perceived by parents as less safe for outdoor play were more likely to be persistently overweight.”

However, the researchers also found that:
* “Child aerobic exercise and opportunities for activity were not assoicated with a greater likelihood of weight problems.”

So, what’s going on here? TV watching is associated with weight — but physical activity is NOT associated with weight. How can you make sense of these results?

Well, first of all, an “association” doesn’t mean that one factor CAUSES the other factor. So, just because TV watching is “associated” with weight doesn’t mean that TV watching CAUSES weight gain. For example, it could just as easily mean that weight gain leads to more TV watching.

However, most people assume that the reason TV watching is associated with weight is because TV watching leads to less physical activity, and less physical activity leads to weight gain.

This makes sense doesn’t it?

It might make sense but it turns out not to be true. Almost no research has found an association between TV watching and physical activity. In other words, kids that watch more TV don’t generally have lower physical activity levels than kids who watch less TV.

What this means is that the reason TV watching is associated with weight probably has nothing to do with physical activity levels. Instead, there’s something else about TV watching that creates this association.

No one know what this something else is but one theory is that, when kids watch TV, they mindlessly eat high-caloric snack food at the same time.

If the goal is to address the “childhood obesity epidemic” maybe we should be less concerned about TV watching and more concerned about kids eating at the kitchen table instead of in front of the TV set.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of The Straight Scoop About Childhood Obesity