TV Diners Miss the Big Health Picture

The findings, which appear in the April issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, essentially corroborate previous research that has found, among other things, that preschoolers who spend more time glued to the television have worse diets and that families dining together tend to have better eating habits. "Lots of studies have found that when families eat together and presumably talk, kids eat healthier and do better, they're less likely to drink and use drugs. It's pro-social behavior," said Dr. Barbara A. Dennison, senior author of the study and director of the Bureau of Health Risk Reduction, Division of Chronic Disease Prevention and Adult Health at the New York State Department of Health. And when diners are focusing on the TV set, they're not paying attention to what they eat.

More than 1,300 parents or guardians of children participating in New York's Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children were surveyed on how many days a week the family ate dinner together, the number of days each week the TV was turned on during dinner, and how often fruits and vegetables were served. More fruits and vegetables were served on the nights families ate dinner as a unit. Servings of fruits and vegetables decreased each night the TV was turned on during the meal. Neither eating together nor having the television on seemed to have any relationship with servings of milk.

Steve - here's any easy way to remedy the situation...do not have TVs in rooms that you eat in!