TV Is Bad For Children’s Diets
Posted on Jan 30, 2009 | Comments 2
Everyone knows that watching too much TV is bad for us and especially bad for children.
Many parents worry about the effects of things like violence shown on TV and the resulting impressions left on young minds.
Now a new report published in the highly respected International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity claims that television can have another ill effect on young minds.
Researchers have found after studying the habits of 2000 schoolchildren, that there is a relationship between the amount of TV watched and their future diet habits.
The study conducted by scientists at the University of Minnesota claims that children who watch in excess of five hours of TV each day had poorer diets. They tended to eat less vegetables, calcium rich foods and fruit.
These heavy TV watchers also tended towards eating more “bad” food such as pre-packaged snacks, drinks with large amounts of sugar, as well as lots of fried and fast food meals as they grew older.
The study believes that at least some of the blame for this poor diet and in particular a tendency towards prepackaged and fast foods are related to the amount of advertising that the children are exposed to in long hours of TV viewing.
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Posted in: DIET & NUTRITION
I know this is very true because my daughter is hooked to TV watching and she is obese I may say so. She tends to eat much while watching her favorite cartoon shows. But I already learned my lesson. I put a halt on her TV watching and now she is not only good in school, she also is weighing less.
Yup there’s no arguing about it. The solution is pretty simple though: pack the cupboards and the refrigerator full of healthy snacks! Give them less money and more home-made lunches. Also, educate them about the perils of eating processes and unhealthy food. I’m really really sure that will help.