A study established a relationship between the exposure of pregnant women to television during their meals and inflantile obesity.
Here is a discovery that could change the eating habits of pregnant women. According to a study presented at the congress Pediatric Academic Societies In Vancouver, women who eat in front of their television during pregnancy are five times more likely to expose their babies to the small screen during their meals than other mothers.
These results are particularly alarming because watching television during meals, for example, prevents mothers from detecting signs of satiety in their child. In any case, this research joins the many studies which link childhood obesity and, more generally, bad eating habits with prolonged exposure or overexposure to television.
To establish these results, the scientists analyzed data from an early childhood obesity prevention program at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. This program followed mothers through their pregnancy and until their children were three years old. According to these data, 71% of the 189 participants watched television during “some” meals and 33% of the women admitted that their three-month-old infants were also exposed to it while they were feeding them.
For Mary Jo Messito, the director of the study, “reinforcing healthy eating habits at mealtime, from pregnancy, should help reduce children’s exposure and improve their eating habits in the long term”.
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