Washington, Dec 11 (IANS) Children watching TV in bedrooms might have greater chances of becoming obese, says a US study.
A team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Los Angeles linked the relationship between watching TV in bedrooms and childhood obesity, especially larger waists.
"The established association between TV and obesity is predominantly based on BMI (Body Mass Index which is height-to-weight ratio). The association between TV and fat mass, adiposity stored in specific depots (including abdominal subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue) and cardiometabolic risk, is less well understood," says lead investigator Peter T. Katzmarzyk, from Pennington.
"It is hypothesized that higher levels of TV viewing and the presence of a TV in the bedroom are associated with depot-specific adiposity and cardiometabolic risk," adds Katzmarzyk.
Between 2010 and 2011, 369 children and adolescents aged between five and 18 years in Baton Rouge, representing a balance between gender, ethnicity, age, and BMI status, were evaluated for a variety of factors, such as waist circumference, resting blood pressure, fasting triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, glucose, fat mass and stomach fat, according to a Pennington statement.
Participants with a TV in the bedroom and those who watched TV more than two hours a day were each associated with up to 2.5 times the odds of the highest levels of fat mass.