Children who have a television in their bedroom are significantly more likely to be overweight, according to a study of more than 12,000 British youngsters.
Experts said that parents should consider keeping screens out of youngsters’ rooms to stem the tide of childhood obesity.
Girls who had a television in their bedroom at age seven were approximately 30 per cent more likely to be overweight at age 11 than those who did not. For boys the increased risk was about 20 per cent.
Both overall body mass and the amount of fat in the body were higher, according to the researchers behind the study, published today in the International Journal of Obesity.
Dr Anja Heilmann, of the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said: “Childhood obesity in the UK is a major public health problem. In England, about one third of all 11-year-olds are overweight and one in five are obese.
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“Our study shows that there is a clear link between having a TV in the bedroom as a young child and being overweight a few years later.
“We found that having a TV in the child’s bedroom was an independent risk factor for being overweight and increased body fatness in this nationally representative sample of UK children. Childhood obesity prevention strategies should consider TVs in children’s bedrooms as a risk factor for obesity.”
The reasons behind the link are not yet established, but might include children snacking while watching TV and reduced or disrupted sleep, as well as increased exposure to product placement and advertisements. Experts said the study added weight to calls to ban junk food advertising before 9pm.
The research, using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, found that over half of the 12,556 children sampled had a television in their bedroom at age seven.
Professor Nick Finer, consultant endocrinologist and bariatric physician, UCL, said: “It is hard not to think that parents concerned about their child’s risk of becoming overweight might appropriately consider not putting a TV in their young children’s bedrooms.”
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The more hours girls spent watching television or DVDs, the more likely they were to be overweight. That relationship was not found for boys, and the researchers said part of the reason could be that girls were less active than boys overall.
Professor Russell Viner, officer for health promotion, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said: “This is a high quality study covering a very large and nationally representative sample and provides a reasonably strong basis to think that the links shown here are real […] the findings must be taken very seriously.
“The study adds yet more weight to our recommendations for the next government to tackle this issue, which include a strict ban on junk food advertising before the nine o’clock watershed.”
The team behind the study took into account other factors known to be linked to obesity, including breastfeeding duration, household income, mothers’ education, irregular bedtimes and physical activity.
They also looked at mothers’ BMI in order to account for the “overall food environment” in the household and genetic influences.
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The BMI of the children at age three was also added into calculations, to rule out the possibility that children who were already overweight might spend more time in front of a screen.
A spokeswoman from the Obesity Health Alliance said: “It’s a fact of life that children’s screen time has increased. What’s worrying is the increased opportunities this gives the food industry to target them with adverts for unhealthy food and drink.
“We know that advertising directly influences food choices among children, which is why we are calling for loopholes to be closed to restrict junk food adverts on TV before 9pm as part of a wider strategy to tackle childhood obesity.”