Does television encourage eating more or moving less?

A worrisome obesity epidemic has been developing for some years, leading public health officials to concern themselves increasingly with children’s nutritional future. Fingers are pointed at one guilty party after another: sugar, fat, inactivity, and more recently, television. Are exponential sales of electronic screens of all kinds (televisions, game consoles, smartphones, tablets etc.) related to the growth of childhood obesity? If that is the case, do screens make children gain weight because it advertises mostly fatty and sugary products and/or because it prevents children from spending time on athletic activities that burn calories? The analysis of results of 20 topical scientific studies can be surprising.

To learn more, download the monograph “Children, Television, and Weight”, published by the Louis Bonduelle Foundation.