Television and Child Obesity, Truth or Fiction?

[David]

TUESDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Obese kids who develop hypertension may be watching far too much television, a new study suggests.

The finding "illustrates the need for considerable physician and family involvement to decrease TV time among obese children," study author Dr. Jeffrey B. Schwimmer, associate professor of pediatrics at University of California, San Diego, said in a prepared statement.

His team's study included 546 participants, ages 4 to 17, who were evaluated for obesity at clinics in California and Ohio from 2003 to 2005.

Information was collected on the amount of time the children spent watching TV, along with their body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

The researchers found that both the severity of obesity and the amount of time spent watching TV each day were significant independent predictors of hypertension.

Children who spent two to four hours a day watching TV were 2.5 times more likely to have hypertension than children who watched two or less hours of TV a day. Children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were 3.3 times more likely to have hypertension than those who watched less than two hours a day.

The findings are published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children watch less than two hours of TV per day but reports that only half (51 percent) of pediatricians make this recommendation to patients. TV viewing is an attractive target for intervention, particularly among obese children with hypertension. Several studies have demonstrated that changing TV time alone can lead to weight loss, without any changes in physical activity," said Schwimmer, director of weight and wellness at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego.

However, in a commentary published in the same issue of the journal, Stuart J.H. Biddle, of the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences in Loughborough, U.K., noted that studies examining the link between TV viewing/sedentary behaviors and obesity can be difficult to interpret.

[Lisa Newton]

To quote a cliche, "It isn't just for kids anymore." Watching too much TV is also a problem for adults. It's time to get moving.........................:)

[Eve]

I was a fairly active adult until I got married. Then I sat at home watching TV each evening while my husband worked. Not only did I become more sedentary, but I was influenced by every commercial for Duncan Hines, McDonald's, or Hickory Farms. That's when I learned to snack for comfort. Yes, I think children and adults need to turn off the tube and spend some time together doing something fun. My kids love to go for family bike rides, play on the trampoline, or have snowball fights. It's not only good for you physically, but your mental health will improve with the exposure to sunshine and fresh air. Now if only I could take my own advice!

[David]

Hang tight, and remember every journey starts with the fist steps--lieterally.

[Redhead Mommy]

This is absolutely true. I was an obese child and watched ALOT of television. I still watch TV, but limit it to 2-3 hours per day. That might sound like alot, but I was watching way more before. My son is only allowed to watch 2 hours per day. One in the morning as he wakes up and one at night when i'm cooking dinner. His pediatrician never recommended an amount of tv time, so when he was younger, I let him watch alot more until I found studies that said no more than 2 hours.

[David]

I thought that you might find this humorous--and true:

Teenage Zombies

By STEPHEN MOORE
January 4, 2008; From the Wall Street Journal, Page W11

My new year's resolution is to get my two teenage sons back. They've been abducted -- by the cult of Nintendo. I'm convinced that video games are Japan's stealth strategy to turn our kids' brains into silly putty as payback for dropping the big one on Hiroshima.

The trouble began last summer when my sons started spending virtually every unsupervised hour camped out in front of the computer screen engaged in multiplayer role games like World of Warcraft and Counterstrike. At the start of this craze, I wrote it off as merely a normal phase of adolescence. I was confident that, at 14 and 16, they would soon be more interested in chasing real-life girls than virtual video hoodlums.

Boy, was I wrong. Their compulsion became steadily more destructive. They grew increasingly withdrawn, walking around like the zombies from "Night of the Living Dead." Unless I pried them (forcibly) from the computer, they would spend five or six hours at a time absorbed in these online fantasy worlds. My wife tried to calm me down by observing that "at least they're not out having sex or doing drugs." But how would that be any worse?

Both are decent athletes, but their muscles began to atrophy right before our very eyes; their skin tone paled from lack of sunlight. Their idea of playing sports these days is inserting Madden football or the NBA slam-dunk game into our Xbox.

We recently considered purchasing the new Nintendo Wii, because at least its games -- simulated bowling, snow boarding, guitar playing and motorcycling -- require physical activity. Nintendo even advertises this product as good exercise for kids, and I have colleagues who swear that they get a great workout from Wii boxing and skiing. Alas, a new study from the British Health Journal suggest that Wii is no substitute for the real and vigorous outdoor exercise that adolescent boys need.

My wife and I aren't entirely inept parents -- our 6-year-old seems fairly well-adjusted anyway. Back in October we established for the older boys strict screen-time limits. It was then that we discovered the true extent of their addiction. They ranted and raved and cursed and even threw things -- almost as if demons had taken possession of them. These are classic withdrawal symptoms; they craved a fix. When we installed parental controls on the computer, our boys scoffed. It took them about 15 minutes to disable them. We've become so desperate that we may have to get rid of the computers entirely, though that may hamper their school work.

It turns out that we're not alone in our predicament. A parent down the street confided to us that his 12-year-old son was so obsessed with video games that he wouldn't take even a three-minute break from gaming to go to the bathroom -- with unfortunate results. The other day we saw a kid at church, in a semi-trance, going down the aisle to Holy Communion while clicking on a hand-held Game Boy. Talk about worshiping a false god.

This summer the American Medical Association's annual conference debated a proposal to declare excessive video gaming a "formal disorder" in the category of other addictions like alcohol, drugs and gambling. One study released at the AMA conference found that many kids who spend a disproportionate amount of time playing games "achieve more control and success of their social relationships in the virtual reality realm than in real relationships."

I'm not one to blame every human frailty on some faddish psychiatric disorder. But I'm persuaded that computer games are the new crack cocaine. The testimonials from parents of online gamers are horrific: kids not taking showers, not eating or sleeping, falling behind in school. Some parents are forced to send their kids to therapeutic boarding schools, which charge up to $5,000 a month, to combat the gaming addiction.

The war lords of the gaming industry tout research on the positive attributes of gaming -- and admittedly there are some. One study published this year in Psychological Science finds that gaming improves eyesight. A famous 2004 study by researchers at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, found that video games improve manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination: "Doctors who spend at least 3 hours a week playing video games," the researchers reported, "made about 37% fewer mistakes in laproscopic surgery." Fine. I'll give my sons the joysticks back when they become orthopedic surgeons.

In the meantime, what is to be done? I'm not suggesting making the games illegal -- we don't need a multibillion-dollar black market in video games. But I am pleading that parents take this social problem seriously and intervene, as my wife and I wish we had done much earlier.

November sales for the Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, and the games that go with them, were up a gaudy 52% over last year. In my neck of the woods, Wii's were such hot sellers that they weren't available in the stores at any price. I'm proud to report that we rejected our youngest son's pleas for a PlayStation for Christmas. He pouts that we're the meanest parents in the world. Someday he'll thank us. A mind really is a terrible thing to waste.

Mr. Moore is a member of The Wall Street Journal's editorial board.

[Redhead Mommy]

I liked that article. I was able to poke fun at my husband...he's sitting here complaining right now because he plays World of Warcraft...which they cited in the story. It is crack...

[altheakim]

THE PARENTS, wasn't mentioned. Parents allow children to come home and sit in front of the TV and play all day. I don't have any kids but I have always had a kid living with me. Even now the 5 yar old that lives with me is always asking me to go to the gym downstairs or do sit ups with him or playball... something! He knows he can't sit in front of the TV nonstop. His mothre and I simply do not allow it! Parents want the kids out of their hair and since the video games are entertaining, they let them sit and play all day everyday. If you train them to be active, they'll be active. Schools can't do everything. Their first job should be to educate. The rest is called Parenting.
---------------------------------
althea

Iowa Drug Addiction

[Metroknow]

I was a TV kid without question. I typically watched easily 8 hours of TV a day - an hour before school, and then from 2:30-9:30, at least. Pause for dinner - but that was in front of the TV too. Latch Key kids!

[James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.]

I can't see how tv viewing, in and by itself, can cause obesity without associated habits playing a role. Perhaps there is more snacking going on, or the commercials are paying off with eating more sugary foods. TV viewing is time spent not exercising and should be done in moderation. It's not only children, but everyone.

[Metroknow]

Yes, for sure - it's not really the viewing per se I don't think. I think it is as you said, a)lack of exercise and outdoor activity during sedentary television watching, b)exposure to advertisements that sway your cravings/food decisions. I think the most important factor is B -- visual ads are so effective at encouraging children to eat poorly. Chuck E. Cheese and McDonalds ads now on PBS are great examples.

[Lisa Newton]

TV ads aren't just for kids anymore. How many times have adults watched a program, saw an enticing advertisement, and went to the kitchen and grabbed the first quick unhealthy snack available. It happens all the time.

[cher]

Whether considere "obese" or not on some made up BMI scale, the lack of fitness still applies, whether the child is overweight, or seemingly thin. Being inactive is just unhealthy period. Whether it's sitting on your butt in front of the tv, computer, video game, etc. I actually kick my child OUT of the house when he's grounded!!! GO PLAY!!! LOL