TV Tied To Blood Pressure In Obese Kids

(WebMD)  A new childhood obesity study links watching lots of TV to high blood pressure in obese children.

The researchers advise parents to heed recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) about limiting kids' TV time.

The AAP doesn't recommend TV for children aged 2 or younger. The AAP recommends no more than one to two hours per day of educational, nonviolent programs for older children.

Other tips include removing TVs from children's bedrooms and forbidding TV watching while eating, note the new study's authors, who included Perrie Pardee and Jeffrey Schwimmer, M.D., of the pediatrics department at the University of California, San Diego.

Television and Obese Children

Pardee, Schwimmer, and colleagues studied 546 obese kids and teens (average age: almost 12).

The children sought obesity treatment between 2003 and 2005 in San Diego, San Francisco, or Dayton, Ohio.

The kids had an average BMI (body mass index, which relates height to
weight) of 35.5, putting them in the top 5 percent of BMI for their age and sex.

The kids' parents reported how much TV their child watched on a typical day.
Children aged 8 and older helped their parents report TV time.

More than three-quarters of the kids -- 78 percent -- reported watching at least two hours of TV per day.

The children got their blood pressure recorded once for the study. Nearly half of the children -- 43 percent -- had a blood pressure reading that was in the hypertension range.

The heaviest children were the most likely to have a high blood pressure reading -- and to watch lots of TV.

Children who watched 2-4 hours of TV per day were 2.5 times as likely as kids who watch no more than two hours of daily TV to have high blood pressure.

Cause and Effect Unclear

The study, which is due to appear in December's edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, has some limits.

As an observational study, it doesn't prove cause and effect. That is, the findings don't prove that watching TV raised the kids' blood pressure; other factors may have been involved.

An editorial published with the study raises these questions for further research:

Why is obesity increasing while TV viewing isn't increasing?

Why does obesity increase in adolescence, when TV viewing decreases?

Why do boys, who watch more TV than girls, show less obesity and more physical activity?

"Focusing on just one set of behaviors may not be enough," writes editorialist Stuart Biddle, Ph.D.

For instance, Biddle points out that turning off the TV doesn't make for a more active child if that child just starts playing computer games.

Biddle works at the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England.

By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[grammawhamma]

New name for this condition is Otvesity.

[lonestartnow]

Do you realize what kids are watching on TV? First they''re sitting there rather than being active. And they''re watching advertising pushing food, beverages and candy--aimed at them. I''m co-founder of the LoneStart Wellness Initiative, and this is a message we are constantly trying to get parents to listen to. More than 50 percent of television advertisments directed at children promote food and beverages such as candy, fast food, snack foods, soft drinks and sweetened cereals. On Saturday mornings, children see one food commercial about every 5 minutes. Food and beverage advertisers collectively spend $10 to $12 Billion a year to reach children and youth. And this is really scary--36 percent of all children 6 years old and under have a TV in their bedroom. A preschooler''s risk for obesity increases by 6 percent for every hour of TV watched per day--and if there''s a TV in the child''s bedroom, the odds jump an additional 31 percent for each hour watched. Do you think there''s a correlation here?

[baileyccc]

Now this is the type of information we need. Surely an executive from a pharmaceutical company can come up with a disease name for this and a new drug to solve this problem. It should be promoted with TV commercials and a nice financial incentive to all physicians that prescribe this new drug.

[bja8839]

im sorry if your kid gets fat its because you let them you dont take them outside and let them run around and you let them eat junk food all the time when i was little i watched tv all the time i ate what i wanted to and i didnt get fat you want to know why MY PARENTS MADE ME GO OUTSIDE AND RUN IT OFF you know like all kids should do go outside and play have a good time running around making a mess everywhere you go. tv isnt what is making the kids fat its the parents not watching what there kids eat and not making them get up and go outside for fresh air i hate when people blame things on the tv!!!! cant anyone ever take there probs and blame themself i mean it is half there falut isnt it i mean if i hit my brother would it be the tv''s falut no it would be MINE because i was the one who wanted to do it the tv didnt make me but let me guess you other parents would blame it on the tv and say well she watched a show that had fighting on it so she did what they did on tv no i did it becasue i wanted to and he was a jerk not because of a tv its the same thing saying kids are getting fat because of tv uh no sorry its not because of tv its because the parents dont make there kids go outside and play and they let them eat whatever they want whenever they want gezzzz