TV and Eating Habits

Summarized by Robert W. Griffith, MD
May 22, 2006

This is the 15th article we've published by Dr Irene Berman-Levine. It's taken from one of her newsletters, "Dr Irene's Nutrition Tidbits", which discusses the influence of television on US eating habits. You can subscribe to this newsletter by clicking on: http://www.healthandage.org/Home/gm=22 Robert Griffith, Editor.

This year, April 24-30 was TV-Turnoff Week ( http://www.tvturnoff.org/). While the campaign may be a joke to some, the effort has merit for many reasons. Family communication, learning to love to read and not wasting brain power are some of the non-nutrition reasons but my newsletter will focus on research that supports the nutrition reasons.

Most readers already have the gut feeling that TV is not a good influence on our eating habits. Now there is further evidence that our "gut" feeling does translate into "gut girth".

TV Viewing and Weight Gain

In this month's online journal of Preventing Chronic Disease, an article reports on the relationship between TV and weight in adults. Researchers used data from a national nutrition survey (CSFII¹) of over 9.000 people completed in the 1990's (sorry, but there's a LONG time lag in some of this data analysis) to look at the relationship between TV and weight in adults. In addition to food intake the following characteristics were considered: participants' socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, macronutrient intakes (calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat), weight status, prevalence of health conditions, television viewing, and weight.

As with many large scale nutrition surveys, there are weaknesses in the data collection that need to be considered. Individuals self-reported data on height and weight (so, if anything, weight is probably underestimated). Also, there was only one question in the survey on the number of hours they watched television or a videotape each day. The following choices were available to the respondent: no television watched (or 0 hours), 1 hour or less (coded as 1 hour), integers including 2 through 24 hours, don't know, and not ascertained. Despite weaknesses often inherent in trying to collect data from so many people, the results have merit.

The sample was divided into three groups based on the 2-day average of the amount of time spent in front of the TV.
Group 1: Those that watched less than 1 hour of television per day (1296 people),
Group 2: Those that watched 1 or 2 hours of television per day (2317 people), and
Group 3: Those that watched more than 2 hours of television per day (5544 people).

Results indicate that even before everyone had cable, less than 15% of Americans controlled their television to less than one hour per day. Over 26% watched 1 to 2 hours of television per day, and 59% watched more than 2 hours of TV per day.

There was a direct correlation between TV watching and gut. Normal-weight individuals spend significantly less time (2.3 hours/day) watching TV compared with overweight (2.6 hours/day) or obese (3 hours/day) adults.

Health Effects of TV Watching?

Certain characteristics were also associated with TV habits. Between the ages of 20 and 50 TV habits were similar but almost three fourths of seniors (age 66+) watched more than 2 hours of television per day. A low level of education was associated with more television viewing. About two thirds of adults with a high school education or less watched more than 2 hours of television per day; only about half the adults with 4 or more years of college education watched this amount. Those individuals who viewed more than 2 hours of TV a day had a higher incidence of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, or high blood cholesterol.

It is easy to blame the low level of physical activity during TV viewing for increased weight, but we are also eating more when watching TV. This study provides more evidence that calorie intake goes up as TV time goes up. Those adults who watched less than 1 hour per day had the lowest daily calorie intake (1896 calories) while those that watched more than 2 hours of TV ate the most (2033 calories). Along with the calories came the highest amount of total fat and carbohydrate intake (especially added sugars) in the heavy TV watchers. Those that watched more TV also had the lowest fiber intake per 1,000 calories . . . I guess that is why so many laxative companies advertise on TV.

Types of TV Food

The types of food consumed were also correlated with TV behavior. As TV viewing went up, so did the amounts of higher-calorie snack-type foods, grain mixtures such as pizza, and regular soft drinks, which are sources of added sugars. And those adults who watched more than 2 hours of television consumed more calories at supper and snacks (although it was not determined if they watched TV and ate dinner at the same time).

The Bottom Line

So what is the big deal? The study only documents 137 more calories in adults who watched more than 2 hours of TV/day compared to those that watched for less than 1 hour. But it is a big deal. This can translate into a weight gain of 14.3 pounds per year.

Considering that more than half the adults in the United States, regardless of whether they live in an urban or rural area, watch more than 2 hours of TV a day, it's no wonder that we are in trouble with the obesity epidemic. My solution is to create TVs that only work if your feet are peddling to create the necessary electricity, and you have to sit on a bike which requires you to hang on for dear life (so you can't use your hands to eat at the same time). Only then might we curb the TV and gut connection.

Dr irene's Source: Bowman SA. Television-viewing characteristics of adults: correlations to eating practices and overweight and health status. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2006 April. Available from: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/apr/05_0139.htm

Source

• I Berman-Levine PhD, RD. "Dr Irene's Nutrition Tidbits" Newsletter published by HealthandAge.org. Volume VII Issue No 9, April 2006

Footnotes
1. CSFII = U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals 1994-1996. The CSFII sample is a stratified, multistage, area probability sample of U.S. households. Dietary data were collected on 2 nonconsecutive days, 3 to 10 days apart. Television viewing was also assessed on 2 separate days.

Related Links
Dr Irene's Nutritional Tidbits
The Truth About Telly Belly
Cutting TV Better Than Dieting?

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