Daily HealthBeat Tip

TV tubbies

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ray Sass with HHS HealthBeat.

TV can be entertaining for kids and offer a needed rest to parents. But too much TV may put kids at risk of becoming overweight.

A study in Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine examined TV habits of preschoolers aged 3 to 4 1/2.

The results were surprising.

Kids who watched more TV were at greater risk of being overweight—even if the program was educational or they weren’t actively watching what was on.

Julie Lumeng of the University of Michigan Health System:

“If kids were awake in the room with the TV on two or more hours per day, they were almost three times as likely to be overweight or obese.” (7 seconds)

The solution?

“What parents really need to work towards doing is having their children watch less television.” (4 seconds)

The study was supported by HHS’ National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ray Sass.

Last revised: August 3, 2006

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