The two studies, presented at the October 14-17, 2005 annual meeting of the Obesity Society in Vancouver, examined the association between hours of watching television, activity levels, and obesity in adults and children. In the first study, researchers at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, analyzed data taken from about 5,000 members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR). Previous studies reported that NWCR members lost an average of 73 pounds and kept off at least 30 of them for more than six years. (1-3)
Researchers from the first study found that the participants who had lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for six years watched less than 10 hours of TV each week. "That's much less than the national average of 28 hours a week", says lead researcher Suzanne Phelan. "Registry members who increased their TV viewing were more likely to gain weight." (3)
In the second study, researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver, Colorado, provided pedometers to 57 children, aged 10 to 17, for four days. The children's weight, height, age, gender and other health-related information were obtained from the their parents. Findings showed that the children averaged about 8,000 steps each day, which was significantly less than the 11,000 to 13,000 steps they should be taking. Furthermore, the number of steps the children took each day decreased as their age increased. The results also revealed that 25 percent of the children were at risk for becoming overweight.
"There was a trend toward a significant negative association between hours of watching television or playing video games and steps," the study authors write. "In other words, the more hours were spent in front of the television the less active was the child." (4)
Posted by Kristopher Foster on June 29, 2006 11:01 PM
