Children with TVs in their bedroom have a higher risk of becoming obese – and it’s worse for girls, study finds

Daily Mail – Ben Spencer

“Girls who have televisions in their bedrooms are more likely than boys to become overweight, research has found. Seven-year-old girls with TVs in their rooms have a 30 per cent higher risk of being overweight by the time they are 11 than children without their own television set. For boys with a TV in their room the risk of becoming overweight goes up 20 per cent, the University College London team discovered. The researchers, who tracked more than 12,500 British children, found more than half had TVs in their bedroom at age seven. Researcher Dr Anja Heilmann, whose findings are published in the International Journal of Obesity, said: ‘Childhood obesity in the UK is a major public health problem,’ she said.”(more)