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A recent survey shows that many American children spend dinnertime
in front of a TV.
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine looked at the eating
habits of 287 schoolchildren from the Houston, Texas area and found
that:
Lead author Dr. Karen Cullen, a behavioral nutritionist, states
in comments to Reuters Health "From both a nutritional standpoint
and a family interaction standpoint, it's probably not the ideal
situation".
According to Dr. Cullen, this practice of watching TV while eating
can have the following negative impacts:
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Takes the focus of dinnertime off of food and family conversation
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People tend to eat more when parked in front of the television
because they stop paying attention to the internal signals that
they are full.
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Food commercials may contribute to eating too much or making
poor food choices, since most commercials geared towards children
are for junk foods.
- TV watching during mealtime may also suggest a more sedentary
lifestyle, with inadequate physical activity.
"Active time is really important for health, and if the TV
is on too much, that limits how much time you're outside,"
said Dr. Cullen.
Dr. Cullen advises families to evaluate their TV consumption,
especially during meals. Families should enjoy a social meal together,
and then plan time to get out and do something.
Meeting of the American Dietetic
Association October, 2000
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