London: Parents now have another reason to keep the TV off limits for their kids.
A new research has found that watching more than two hours of television a day at the weekend raises the risk of children becoming obese adults.
Dr Russell Viner of University College London, said that the study, conducted by researchers at the Centre for Longitudinal Studies, also found that the risk of children turning into obese adults increases by 7 per cent for every hour of television watched at weekends by five-year-olds.
Dr Viner said that the study was based on findings from 1975, and that in today’s world, the impact of TV on children was likely to be even more ‘worrying’.
"This research is based on findings from 1975, when Britain had only three television channels. The situation is likely to be more worrying today," The Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
He added that such a situation could be avoided if children were encouraged to be more active and spend less time in front of the TV, especially during the weekends.
"Helping to fight obesity by reducing inactivity in the population should begin in early childhood. Tackling television watching in pre-school children may help, particularly at the weekends when children are probably less supervised," he added.
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