Tufts Study Links Watching TV With Bad Diet
Researcher Says Kids Who Watch TV During Meals Tend To Eat Unhealthy Foods Instead Of Fruits, Vegetables

Boston - For the first time, researchers may have actually proven that TV is unhealthy. A new study released by Tufts University's Katharine Coon found that children who watch TV during meals often eat unhealthy foods instead of fruits and vegetables.

   "When the TV is on, our attention is diverted and eating can become automatic," Coon told CNN. "When that happens it's easy to let healthy habits slip away and less healthy habits take over."

   With only one third of children actually getting the recommended number of daily vegetable servings, Coon found the impact on diet to be damaging. "I wasn't expecting TV, of all the variables I measured, to be so strong, or to be the strongest variable, which turned out to be," Coon told CBS.

   The findings, said Tufts' Katherine Tucker, are significant. "Students in this age group are eating so few fruits and vegetables already that every little bit counts," Tucker, a nutrition expert at Tufts, told the Boston Herald.

   During her research, the Tufts nutritional sociologist found that families with high television use had a higher intake of processed meats, salty snacks, and pizza and a lower intake of fruits and vegetables, when compared to those with low television use.

The findings may be the first of their kind.

   "It's the first time, to my knowledge, a study has shown that TV is actually correlated with less consumption of good foods, or the foods that are nutritionally important in children's diets, including fruits and vegetables," Coon told CBS's Charles Osgood.

Coon attributes the connection to a number of factors.

   "The first is that high television viewing goes along with a cluster of family food behaviors where people tend to be unfocused. They want easy routines, no muss, no fuss," she said to Reuters. "When a family is in that kind of mode, there is a tendency to reach for easy solutions." Those solutions tend to be less healthy, Coon added.

   The Tufts researcher also found that the TV programming, itself, may also have had an impact. "It may or may not be a coincidence that the food culture promoted on TV promotes that, while fruits and vegetables are healthy, they are more linked to sit-down meal occasions," Coon told Reuters.

Education may also play a role. CNN reported: "Those with the least amount of schooling tend to keep the television on the most."

   The solution: turn off the TV during meals.

   "I think it's really important for parents just to try and turn off the TV and be with their kids when their kids are eating -- as much as possible really make it a collective activity," Coon said in an interview on CNN's Early Edition. "Parents need to really eat fruits and vegetables themselves and remember that the way parents model their food habits is a very, very important influence on kids' behaviors."

   In a Boston Herald article, Tucker added, "Families that sit down to dinner together do better in a number of ways."

Online: http://www.tufts.edu/communications/printerversion/011501TVBadForDiet