HHS HealthBeat (September 27, 2012)

TV and teens’ weight

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

TV watching and teens’ weights seem to go together. Researchers at the University of Minnesota saw indications of that in a year-long study of 153 adults and 72 teens. The researchers used devices that limited the number of hours a TV was on. Families kept track of how much TV people watched.

Teens who watched less TV wound up with better weights.

Researcher Simone French says this indicates TV could be a way for parents to help to control kids’ weight:

“Especially with young kids, that’s where things are happening, and parents are really the managers of the home environment and set the stage for these behaviors.”

The study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at healthfinder.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: September 27, 2012