The Correlation between watching Television and Obesity · Web viewThe Correlation between watching...

1The Correlation Between watching Television and Obesity.

The Correlation between watching Television

and Obesity

Edgardo J. Bouret

New York City College of Technology

Research Seminar

Professor Claudia Green

May 16, 2015


Introduction

Obesity is one of the top problems going on today in the world. Studies show that people with

obesity problems tend to have health issues like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and

cholesterol just to name a few, and people that are obese tend to die much younger than those who are

not over weight. There are many advocates out there for the stopping of obesity. One famous person

who is doing something about this issue is First Lady Michelle Obama. In order to combat this problem

we need to focus on some of the causes of obesity and try and change those habits. Some say that the

advancement of technology has had an impact on obesity with things like Television and the internet

affecting the way people eat and the amount of physical activity done. The research I conducted tries to

prove that watching television for long periods of time has an impact on obesity.

Review of Literature

In the paper “Role of television in childhood obesity prevention” the authors M. Caroli, L.

Argentieri, M. Cardone and A. Masi reviewed studies about television watching and its correlation to

being overweight. They found a study that showed a correlation that people who watched more than 5

hours of television per day were 4.6 times more overweight than those who only watched 0-1 hours of

television a day. The study also showed that those who spent the most time watching television

between the ages of 6-11 were overweight 6 years later. The authors also found studies that prove that

watching television commercials affected what the kids ate and these choices also led to the children

being overweight. The same went for adolescents and adults who watched television. Even a small

exposure to food advertising can influence food preference of a child ages 2-6 years old. (Caroli, M.,

Argentieri, L., Cardone, M., & Masi, A. 2004).

In the article “Watching television is associated with childhood obesity but is it clinically

important? The authors studied children at age 3 and then at age 15. Studying the information they

received they found that the children who watched the most amount of television more than 2 hours

a day of television were significantly more overweight than the ones who didn’t watch that much

television. One thing that they found during the study was that the girls had much higher BMIs than the

boys who watched the same amount of television mainly in the girls adolescence stage. ( Hancox, R. J.,


& Poulton, R. 2006). Watching television is associated with childhood obesity: but is it clinically

important?.

In the article The Worldwide Association between Television Viewing and Obesity in Children

and Adolescents: Cross Sectional Study they analyzed information from the International Study of

Asthma and Allergies in Children Phase Three to prove that not only watching television for more than 2

hours was directly associated to obesity but also that females had a higher risk than the males in the

study. (Braithwaite, I., Stewart, A. W., Hancox, R. J., Beasley, R., Murphy, R., & Mitchell, E. A.

2013).

The article “Television viewing time in Hong Kong Adult population: Associations with body mass

index and obesity” further emphasized that watching tv more than 2 hours contributed to higher BMIs.

The results also showed this to be true more in the women especially those age 18-34 years old. (Xie, Y.

J., Stewart, S. M., Lam, T. H., Viswanath, K., & Chan, S. S. 2014).

The article “Priming effects of television food advertising eating behavior” try to study the

effects of watching TV commercials and how those advertisements trigger the person watching them to

eat snacks available to them. The results proved that children consumed 45% more food and adults also

consumed more snacks after being exposed to these food advertisements. (Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A., &

Brownell, K. D. 2009).

The article “Do we fatten our children at the Television set? Obesity and Television viewing in

children and adolescents” had the hypothesis that obesity is directly correlated to watching Television

and concluded this to be true with their study. The difference in this study was that they also looked at

the outcome of obese children once the habit of watching more than 2 hours was broken. They found

that obesity can in fact be reversed with the reduction of television and changing those sedentary

activities to more physical activities. (Dietz Jr., W. H., & Gortmaker, S. L. 1985).

Methodology

The method used in this research was a survey produced from survey monkey. The questions of

the survey were based off of the information on the articles having to do with my topic. Once the survey

questions were complete the research class tested out the survey in order to ensure that the questions

made sense and that there were no spelling and grammatical errors. Once approved and the final touch


ups were completed the survey was posted on Facebook and emailed. After about a week the data was

collected and analyzed. There were 31 responses to the survey. The results were then interpreted by

using charts and graphs.

Results

The data received from the Survey on Survey Monkey has served to prove what the articles have

been saying. The majority of people surveyed watch more than 2 hours of television a day and eat while

doing so. Also they show that about 45 percent of the people surveyed are overweight.

The First question was Do you watch television at home. The results show that 90.3% (n=28)

watch television at home and only 9.7% (n=3) do not watch television at home.


The second question was do you do any Physical Activity? The results show that 74.2% (n=23) do some

sort of activity while 25.8% (n=8) do not do any physical activity.


Question 3 was How many hours a day do you watch television? 35.5%(n=11) watch more than 2 hours,

25.8%(n=8) watch for two hours, 16.1%(n=5) watch for an hour, 12.9%(n=4) watch for less than an hour

and 9.7%(n=3) don’t watch television at home.


Question 4 was Do you eat while watching television. 87.1%(n=27) said yes they do eat while watching

television, 9.7%(n=3) said no they don’t eat while watching tv, and 3.2%(n=1) said not applicable


Question 5 was if yes how often do you do this? 64.5%(n=20) said sometimes they eat while watching

television, 19.4%(n=6) said they eat while watching television every time, 12.9%(n=4) said they never

eat while watching tv and 3.2%(n=1) said they almost never eat and watch television.


Question 6 was Do you watch television commercials? 67.7%(n=21) said yes they do watch television

commercials, while 32.3%(n=10) said that they do not watch television commercials.


Question 7 was Do you buy food seen in commercials? 77.4%(n=24) said no they do not buy food seen in

commercials, while 22.6%(n=7) said that they do buy food seeing in commercials.


Question 8 was What physical activity do you participate in? 38.7%(n=12) go to the gym, 19.4%(n=6)

don’t do anything, 41.9%(n=13) did another activity for example jogging, Zumba, or dancing were a few

of the responses.


Question 9 was if yes how many times a week do you participate in this activity? 52%(n=13) said 3 times

a week, 32%(n=8) said more than 3 times a week, and 16%(n=4) said once a week.


Question 10 was what do you think is more important in your well-being? 77.4% said that mental

wellness is more important, while 67.7% feel that both nutrition and physical activity are equally

important.


Question 11 was Does obesity run in your family? 48.4%(n=15) said yes, and 54.8%(n=17) said no that it

doesn’t run in their family.


Question 12 was Do you know your Body Mass Index (BMI)? 61.3% (n=19) said yes and 38.7% (n=12)

said no they didn’t know their BMI.


Question 13 was if yes is your BMI greater than 25. 54.5%(n=12) said no it is not while 45.5%(n=10) said

yes that it is over 25.


Question 14 was Are you overweight? 42.5 %( n=14) said yes they are overweight, 41.9 %( n=13) said no

they are not overweight,12.9%(n=4) didn’t know, and 3.2%(n=1) said no comment.


Question 15 was Do you eat fast food? 74.2%( n=23) said that they do eat fast food, while 29%( n=9)

said no they don’t eat fast food.


Question 16 was if yes which one do you go to? 50% (n=11) go to Chipotle, 40.9% (n=9) go to

McDonalds, and 36.4 %( n=8) go to Wendy’s or to another fast food establishment.


Question 17 was Do you read labels when purchasing food? 58.1%(n=18) said yes they do while

41.9%(n=13) said no they don’t read labels while purchasing food.


Question 18 was What is your gender? 74.2%(n=23) were females and 25.8% (n=8) were males.


Question 19 was How old are you? 58.6%(n=17) were between the ages of 18 and 28, 34.5%(n=10) were

between the ages of 29-39 and 6.9%(n=2) were 40+


Question 20 was What is your ethnicity? 29%(n=9) were Hispanic, 51.6%(n=16) were white, 3.2%(n=1)

were African American and 16.1%(n=5) were other.


Conclusion

Most people watch TV at home over 2 hours a day. They also tend to eat while watching TV.

Most people watch the commercials but don’t buy the food based on the commercials. The majority of

the people surveyed are physically active and do the activity 3 times a week. I was surprised that most

people knew their BMIs. Out of the ones that knew their BMIs most were overweight. More than ¾ of

the people eat fast food and the most popular restaurants were Chipotle which was number one

followed by McDonalds. And most people read the labels of their food before purchasing.

Recommendation/Limitations

This research has limitations because the majority of the participants were white females

between the ages of 18-28. Based on the research this is also the group that is more prone to being

overweight which is proven by the survey as well. Based on the study a person should watch less

television and replace those sedentary activities with more physical activity. Also parents should limit

the time children watch TV while encouraging them to do more physical activities and teaching them at

a young age how to eat in order to slow down the progress of this epidemic.


Bibliography

Braithwaite, I., Stewart, A. W., Hancox, R. J., Beasley, R., Murphy, R., & Mitchell, E. A. (2013). The Worldwide Association between Television Viewing and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: Cross Sectional Study.

Caroli, M., Argentieri, L., Cardone, M., & Masi, A. (2004). Role of television in childhood obesity prevention. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders: Journal of The International Association For The Study of Obesity.

Dietz Jr., W. H., & Gortmaker, S. L. (1985). Do We Fatten Our Children at the Television Set? Obesity and Television Viewing in Children and Adolescents. Pediatrics

Hancox, R. J., & Poulton, R. (2006). Watching television is associated with childhood obesity: but is it clinically important? International Journal of Obesity

Harris, J. L., Bargh, J. A., & Brownell, K. D. (2009). Priming effects of television food advertising eating behavior. Health Psychology

Xie, Y. J., Stewart, S. M., Lam, T. H., Viswanath, K., & Chan, S. S. (2014). Television Viewing Time in Hong Kong Adult Population: Associations with Body Mass Index and Obesity

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