TV teens eat more fast food as adults
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Scientists say TV can influence a child's diet and those who watch more TV end up having bad eating habits.
Friday January 30 2009
Teenagers who spend hours in front of the television end up with bad eating habits, scientists have claimed.
Youngsters who watch more than five hours of TV per day eat more fried and fast food five years later. The researchers blamed TV adverts for influencing youngsters to eat fewer fruit and vegetables.
The findings were based on a study of more than 2,000 schoolchildren in America.
Dr Daheia Barr-Anderson, who worked with a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, said: "This is the first study to examine the association between television viewing and diet over the transition from adolescence into young adulthood.
"We've shown that TV viewing during adolescence predicts poorer dietary intake patterns five years later.''
Patterns
The strongest patterns were seen during the transition to young adulthood.
Dr Barr-Anderson added: "These less than healthy foodstuffs are commonly advertised on television, while healthy foods rarely receive the same publicity.
"Although young people may be aware that many foods advertised on television are not healthy, they may choose to ignore or do not fully realise the consequences.
"The potential negative impacts of advertising campaigns on dietary quality and purchasing behaviour show that, as well as devising interventions to reduce television viewing time, we need to promote healthy food choices in general."
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- Tom Morgan
