Does Eating during Television Viewing Affect Preschool Children’s Intake?

doi:10.1016/j.jada.2006.01.008

Journal of the American Dietetic Association

Volume 106, Issue 4, April 2006, Pages 598-600

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2006.01.008 Get rights and content

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of television (TV) viewing on children’s lunch and snack intake in one condition when the children watched a 22-minute cartoon video on TV (TV group), and in another without the TV (no TV group). Participants included 24 children and their parents, recruited from a university child-care center. Parents reported children’s TV viewing habits at home. Overall, children ate significantly less snack and lunch in the TV condition compared with the no TV condition. However, children who reportedly watched more daily hours of TV and who had a higher frequency of meals eaten in front of the TV at home ate more lunch in the TV condition. TV viewing may either increase or reduce children’s intake, depending on prior experience with eating during TV viewing.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 3- to 5-year-old (mean, 4.6±0.7 years) preschool children attending a full-day university day-care program in central Pennsylvania. Of the 40 age-eligible children in two classrooms, 24 children (12 male, 12 female) were given consent to participate in the study; complete data were obtained from 17 mothers. The Pennsylvania State University Institutional Review Board approved all study procedures, and mothers provided consent for their family’s participation before the study

Results and Discussion

Children were within the normal range for BMI (15.9±1.2), corresponding to a BMI percentile of 61. Mothers were, on average, in their mid-30s (35.4±6.0 years), predominantly non-Hispanic white, and well educated, with 84% reporting some college education. A majority of families (76%) reported mean annual family incomes >$50,000. Mothers reported that children watched an average of 1.5 hours of TV daily, and that 33% of children reportedly ate meals or snacks while watching TV; reports ranged

Conclusions

To promote self-regulation of energy intake in young children, parents and caregivers should be advised against providing opportunities for children to eat during TV viewing.

L. A. Francis is an assistant professor of Biobehavioral Health and L. L. Birch is a distinguished professor of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.

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A previous study distinguished oral processing time from total active mealtime duration (Fogel et al., 2017), suggesting a need for a more refined approaches to understand eating speed. Taking a longer duration of total mealtime due to the time spent in distraction may not be beneficial as a child's food approach behaviors in concert with internal satiety cues may be disrupted (Francis & Birch, 2006). This finding is important given that the association suggests a possibility that bite speed captures one aspect of food approach and withdrawal behavior beyond the inattention to satiety influenced by distractions.
Eating behaviors are shaped at an early age, persist into adulthood, and are implicated in the development of physical health outcomes, including obesity. Faster bite speed has been identified as an obesogenic eating behavior, prompting researchers to examine child and family factors associated with children's variability in bite speed. Child temperament, involving phenotypes of reactivity and regulation, and distractions in family food contexts are fruitful areas of investigation, but few studies have examined the interplay among these factors and their associations with bite speed. To address the gap in the literature, we examined relations between early child temperament, family mealtime distractions, and children's observed bite speed. Caregiver report of child temperament at 3 months was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form - Revised. Child mealtime distractions and bite speed were assessed using family mealtime videos that were collected during home visits when children were 18–24 months of age (n = 109). Results revealed that children who were reported to be higher on orienting/regulation at 3 months, and who were more distracted during mealtimes at 18–24 months, had relatively slower bite speeds. No significant interactions were found. The findings from this correlational study inform further investigations into the implications of early temperament and food contexts for the development of eating behaviors implicated in obesity risk.
Eating habits among primary and secondary school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine: A cross-sectional study during the COVID-19 pandemic
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The COVID-19 pandemic has a great impact on the eating habits, dietary intake, and purchasing behaviours of students. At this critical moment, there is an urgent need to identify the eating habits of school students, in particular, who live in low-income countries, during the lockdown period. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the influence of COVID-19 on the eating habits, quality and quantity of food intake among school students in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.
A cross-sectional study was carried out among 2398 primary and secondary school students aged 6–18 year old through an online questionnaire which included questions on socio-demographic, eating habits as well as quality and quantity of food intake. Students over the age of 11 years completed the questionnaire on their own, whereas for students under the age of 12 years, the students' guardians were instructed to answer the questionnaire on their behalf. A Wilcoxon Signed-Rank and McNemar tests were applied to perform a comparison between general dietary habits before and during COVID-19. Also, a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to compare the median scores of food quality and quantity before and during the COVID-19 pandemic based on student's sociodemographic.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in eating home-cooked foods (91.6%), avoiding ordering food from outside per week (93.3%) and buying groceries online (7.7%) (p < 0.001). There was a marked increase in the students reporting fear about food hygiene outside the home from 20.8% before COVID-19 to 72.9% during the COVID-19 period (p < 0.001). The results showed that the median score for food quality during the COVID-19 pandemic (11.0/6.0) was significantly higher than the before COVID-19 period (10.0, IQR = 8.0) (p < 0.001). The results revealed that the median score for food quantity before the COVID-19 pandemic (15.0, IQR = 5.0) was significantly higher than the during COVID-19 pandemic (14.0, IQR = 7.0) (p < 0.001). The results showed significant differences between the before and during COVID-19 period for food quality and quantity across socio-demographic variables (gender, age group, parent's highest level of education, monthly household income, and household size). During the COVID-19 pandemic, students from a high-income and a small size family had the highest score in terms of food quality and quantity among other counterparts when compared to other counterparts.
Eating habits have significantly altered among school students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of some good healthy habits enhanced among students, the quantity and the quality of the food was compromised. Therefore, the responsible officials at the Ministry of Education must focus on enhancing school students' awareness towards increased intake of healthy food and adopting good eating habits during the spread of pandemics and health diseases to avoid its negative effects on students.
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One of the top worldwide health problems is overweight and obesity, Body weight gain over a number of years could be achieved through cumulative positive energy balances, which may be the result of habitual behaviors adopted through personal choice. Despite the increased in physical activity, the percentage of people who are overweight has increased, after decades-old efforts and awareness on the issue to nudge consumers towards healthier lifestyles through dietary guidelines, diet-related diseases are still on the rise. Is there potential variables need to be evaluated for any relation with gaining weight and obesity in the patient's life styles?
Exploration of the possible factors in the life style of overweight and obese patients, resulting in weight gain.
A prospective randomized study including 440 overweight or obese patients from a total of 689 patients, who consulted for advice, diet and or drugs and various bariatric operations. This was conducted in the period of 5 years from January 2, 2012 to October 1, 2017. For the information collection, each patient was interviewed face-to-face, by three Surgical Board Trainees were interviewing patients face-to-face to fill an originally-designed questionnaire in English translated to the Kurdish language. The questionnaire was composed of demographic data, medical data, biological data, and potential factors of their overweight or obesity. A comparison was made between these patients in the conception of case matching to 446 patients who were of normal body weight, and a normal BMI.
Most of the patients (females; n = 200, 86.95% and males; n = 167, 79.52%) in group A, while (females; n = 14, 5.90% and males; n = 21, 10.05%) were drinking water within 30 min after every meals, meanwhile (females; n = 202, 85.23%, and males; n = 173, 82.77%) from group B patients were drinking water 60 min after every meals.
Nearly half of the patients have a Television in their kitchen/dining room (n = 239/440, 54.39%), however only (51.59%), (13.90%) of the patients from group A, and B respectively were watching TV while eating, A great number of the patients (Group A: n = 358, 81.36%) were operating their computers while eating, versus minority (n = 53, 11.88%), in Group B, and majority of the patients in group A were using their smart phones or making phone calls while eating (n = 390/440, 88.63%) versus small number (n = 49/460, 10.65%) in group B.
Excessive habitual usage of a cell phone, early drinking (within 30 min) of water or other liquids after meals may be the potential factors in the initiation of becoming overweight and obese. University students living in the areas where entertainments are not affordable for all, the only remaining entertainment is using cellphones for social media and communication may be more vulnerable to gain weight, overweight and obesity.
Pre-meal screen-time activities increase subjective emotions, but not food intake in young girls
2017, Appetite
To determine the effect of pre-meal screen-time activities on subjective emotions, subjective appetite, and food intake (FI) in 9–14 year-old girls.
In this clinical study, 31 girls completed four 45-min treatment conditions of television viewing (TVV), video game playing (VGP), a challenging computer task (CT), and sitting without screen exposure (control) in a randomized order. Each treatment condition was followed immediately by an ad libitum pizza lunch, and FI was calculated from the weight of the consumed pizza. Subjective appetite was assessed at baseline, 15, 30, and 45 min during the treatment condition, and upon trial completion at 75 min. Subjective emotions were assessed at baseline and at 45 min.
FI was not affected by screen type, but was positively correlated with body composition (fat mass [FM, kg], fat free mass [FFM, kg]) in all treatment conditions. Subjective appetite was not affected by screen type, but increased with time in all treatment conditions (p < 0.0001). Subjective emotions were affected by VGP only. Anger, excitement, frustration, and upset feelings were increased at 45 min following VGP. VGP led to increased frustration compared to control (p = 0.0003), CT (p = 0.007) and TVV (p = 0.0002).
Exposure to TVV or CT before eating did not affect subjective emotions, subjective appetite, or FI, and no difference was found between screen activities and the control condition for average appetite or FI. Despite a change in subjective emotions during the VGP condition, there was no increase in subjective appetite or subsequent FI. These findings suggest that physiologic signals of satiation and satiety are not overridden by environmental stimuli of pre-meal screen-time exposure among young girls. (Clinical trial number NCT01750177).
Pre-meal video game playing and a glucose preload suppress food intake in normal weight boys
2014, Appetite
Increased food intake (FI) during television viewing has been reported in children, but it is unknown if this occurs following pre-meal video game playing (VGP). The objective was to determine the effect of pre-meal VGP for 30 min on subjective appetite and emotions, and FI in normal weight (NW) boys after a glucose or control preload. On four test mornings, NW boys (n = 19) received equally sweetened preloads of a non-caloric sucralose control or 50 g glucose in 250 mL of water, with or without VGP for 30 min. Food intake from an ad libitum pizza meal was measured immediately after. Subjective appetite was measured at 0, 15, 30, and 60 min. Subjective emotions were determined by visual analog scale at baseline and immediately before lunch. Both VGP (p = 0.023) and glucose (p < 0.001) suppressed FI. Pre-meal VGP compared with no-VGP, and glucose compared with the non-caloric control, decreased FI by 59 and 170 kcal, respectively. Subjective average appetite increased to 30 min (p = 0.003), but was lower after glucose (p = 0.01) in both the VGP and no-VGP conditions compared with the control. Frustration and aggression scores increased after VGP (p < 0.05), but did not correlate with FI. However, baseline and pre-meal happiness and excitement scores were inversely associated with FI. In conclusion, both pre-meal VGP and the glucose preload suppressed FI, supporting the roles of both physiologic and environmental factors in the regulation of short-term FI in 9- to 14-year-old NW boys.
Watching television while eating increases energy intake. Examining the mechanisms in female participants
2014, Appetite
Citation Excerpt :
Distraction may not be the only way that TV could affect the amount of food eaten. In a study with children, Francis and Birch (2006) found that TV only acted to increase food intake in those who reported watching more TV at home and in those who more regularly ate with the TV on. One way in which regular exposure to TV could affect ingestive behaviour in both children and adults is through associative learning.
Watching television (TV) while eating tends to increase food intake, but why this occurs is not well understood. Here, we examined TV’s effects on sensory specific satiety (SSS), introception (i.e., hunger/fullness), mood and other variables, in females who all ate one snack meal with TV and another without TV. To manipulate the development of SSS, participants were assigned either to a group receiving a single type of snack food or one receiving four types. Everyone ate more with TV. More food items were eaten in the group offered multiple snack types. In the group eating a single snack type with TV, hedonic ratings indicated that SSS did not develop and this was associated with greater food intake. Irrespective of group, more food had to be consumed to generate the same shift in hunger/fullness when eating with TV, relative to no TV. TV exerted less effect on food intake both if it improved mood and if participants were unfamiliar with the TV show, and a greater effect if participants were frequent TV viewers. We suggest that TV can affect several processes that normally assist the voluntary regulation of food intake.

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ResearchResearch and Professional BriefDoes Eating during Television Viewing Affect Preschool Children’s Intake?

Abstract

Section snippets

Participants

Results and Discussion

Conclusions

Am J Clin Nutr.

Appetite.

Physiol Behav.

Physiol Behav.

Appetite.

Appetite.

Am J Clin Nutr.

Research
Research and Professional Brief
Does Eating during Television Viewing Affect Preschool Children’s Intake?