TV viewing linked to poorer diet later

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- TV viewing during adolescence predicts poorer dietary intake patterns five years later, U.S. researchers found.

The study, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, tracked almost 2,000 high- and middle-school children and found TV viewing times predict a poor diet in the future.

Dr. Daheia Barr-Anderson, who worked with a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota, found that those in high-school who watched more than five hours of television per day had a lower intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium-rich foods. In addition, those teens were also found to have higher intakes of snack foods, fried foods, fast-food, sugar-sweetened beverages and trans fats five years later.

The less-than-healthy foodstuffs are commonly advertised on television while healthy foods rarely receive the same publicity, Barr-Anderson said.

Stronger and more consistent patterns were seen during the transition from high school to young adulthood than during the transition from middle school to high school, but both are critical developmental periods, where lifelong behaviors are formed, Barr-Anderson said.