Causes of Childhood Obesity

7 Surprising Reasons Your Child Is Gaining Weight

You’re not alone if your kid struggles to slim down. Find out what’s behind the extra pounds—and what you can do about it
By Emily G. W. Chau fitbie
 

Blue's Clues Is Too Cute

The average kid sits in front of the TV about 24 hours a week—and that’s not counting the time they spend online or playing video games. Numerous studies yoke television watching with child obesity. Case in point: Girls who watch more than 2.5 hours a day are more than twice as likely to be overweight than those who watch less than 2 hours. And the stats don’t seem to be gender specific: Researchers speculate that TV competes with the physical activity of all children who watch the most programming, because they were the least active, according to a study in Obesity Research.

But time spent on the couch is only half the problem. The content of commercials may also have a negative effect. Preschoolers watched 21% more fast-food ads on TV in 2009 than they did in 2003; older kids were inundated with 34% more. And there’s reason to believe that advertising is working. Research shows that, in general, the number of commercials viewed by kids is a better predictor of increased weight than the amount of time spent watching TV. (Here are some of the worst healthy food commercials to hit the airways.)
More From fitbie
Keywords:
Related Content