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:

• More than 42% of dinners eaten at home involved TV watching.

• Overweight children consumed 50% of their dinners in front of the TV.

• Normal-weight children ate 35% while watching the tube.

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:

• Takes the focus of dinnertime off of food and family conversation

• 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.

• 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