Kim Woods only

1. Caroli, M., Argentieri, L., Cardone, M., & Masi, A. (2004). Role of television in childhood obesity prevention. International Journal of Obesity, 28(3), S104-S108.

The study seeks to come up with an explanation of the relationship between childhood obesity and TV watching. Food and obesity have many documented consequences and when coupled up with a sedentary lifestyle, the combined effects are quite negative. Specific aspects of TV watching, in this case, are documented and they are linked to the prevalence of childhood obesity in different countries in Europe. The intricate relationship between childhood obesity could also be attributed to the role of the different European government regulations which in all its differences has led to a significant difference in the prevalence of childhood obesity as per the authors of the article.

The research sought to review the role of television in specific activities. Amongst them, one of the effects of TV is the fact that it replaces vigorous activities. As such, there is a positive correlation between the time in which one spends on TV watching and being overweight. This is regardless of the ages of the people. The TV watching activity, as presented in the article, is also linked to obesity prevalence among the different ages of children. Generally, the more the number of hours that one spends watching TV, the higher the chance they are going to be obese.

Through the analysis of literature in the area, it is almost blatant that people that spent more than 4 hours on the TV seemed to have increased in the last 30 years. The analysis of literature was thematic in nature and this was geared towards finding information that was almost prevalent across the different secondary sources. The analysts targeted specific television food commercials targeting children, the use of food in movies and even other kid shows. Besides that, the obese subjects presented in kids’ content were reviewed with the aim of finding out ridiculous traits, and the results that worsen situations. The situation gets worse through the perceived isolation of these subjects. The method of enquiry in the article was evidently a literature study. The data obtained were mainly secondary data and this was through a thematic search of the secondary literature done in the area.

2. Zhang, G., Wu, L., Zhou, L., Lu, W., & Mao, C. (2016). Television watching and risk of childhood obesity: a meta-analysis. The European Journal of Public Health, 26(1), 13-18.

This article is important and a viable contribution to the topic since it attempts to bring to light the relationship between the times spent watching TV and the risk of obesity among children. The article puts forward the argument that over the past few years, childhood obesity rates have risen at an exponential rate. The pediatrics, in this note, have identified specific modifiable risk factors of childhood obesity. Through a thematic study of the literature in the area, it is quite prevalent that the association between TV watching and childhood obesity yields results that are not quite consistent. In the bid to reach the ultimate objective, the researchers sought different articles that helped in elucidating the role of TV watching on the incidences of childhood obesity. The results of these different articles were analyzed using specific aspects of Random-effects models, and the dose-response analyses. This was with the endeavor of coming up with a pool study of the results.

The analysis of the report was done through a meta-analysis of 24 reports which contained between 106 and 169 participants. The analysis of subgroups was done using the available characteristics of the studies as well as the demographic aspects of the participants. As such, a multivariable-adjusted overall or the issue of childhood obesity brought out the fact that there is a 95% confidence interval. A linear-dose close relationship also indicated that TV watching and childhood obesity had a positive relationship and that with an hour daily of TV watching, the chances of becoming obese increased by 13%. Conclusively, the article succinctly brings to light handy solutions such as reducing the sedentary behavior of children as an important public health strategy.

The research evidently followed the strategy of analyzing the effects of one’s physical activity on their heath, energy intake, food advertising and the reduction of sleep time. The method of enquiry in this research was through a thematic analysis. The articles were taken from the PubMed and the Embase databases. The analysis tool the form of Random-effects models as well as the Meta-analyses in order to study the research results in a pool.

3. Giammattei, J., Blix, G., Marshak, H. H., Wollitzer, A. O., & Pettitt, D. J. (2003). Television watching and soft drink consumption: associations with obesity in 11-to 13-year-old schoolchildren. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 157(9), 882-886.

This source is important for the study since it highlights the different predisposing factors affecting the rates of childhood obesity amongst the children. The article sought to come up with a succinct analysis of the prevalence of obesity amongst the sixth and seventh grade students and then head over to identify and determine the lifestyle parameters associated with it. It was found that 35.3% of the students had a body mass index (BMI) of the 85th percentile. 17.4% of them had a BMI index of 95th percentile. The rates of obesity were even higher amongst the Latino and were quite lower amongst the Asian and non-Hispanic white students. It was quite evident that there is a significant association between the BMI and the hours that these students sit behind their TV screens. The soft drink consumption during such hours was also common for these students. The BMI index of students that watched two or more hours was higher as compared by those that watched for a few hours. For those who consumed e soft drinks during the time, they had an even higher body mass index. Other predisposing factors evidently are the social background of the students. The Latino showed a higher rate of childhood obesity as compared to other racial participants of the studies.

The authors of the article conclude that the time in which the children watched television, as well as the number of soft drinks consumed during the time, was significantly associated with childhood obesity. The Latinos spent quite a great deal of time watching TV and consumed more soft drinks as compared to the non-Hispanic white and the Asian students. In essence, the type of food which one consumer not only when watching TV but also in the due course of their daily undertakings is a significant determiner of their body mass index. The findings will be beneficial in coming up with the preventive measures for these kids.

The method used for enquiry is evidently a quantitative one. The data was collected through interviewing and measuring the body weight and height of the students. The respondents were given a short questionnaire which they filled out and then sent it to the researchers.

4. Hu, J., Ding, N., Yang, L., Ma, Y., Gao, M., & Wen, D. (2019). Association between television viewing and early childhood overweight and obesity: a pair-matched case-control study in China. BMC pediatrics, 19(1), 184.

The article is important since it brings to light the relationship between early childhood obesity and TV watching amongst the children. The findings of the article shall be used to support the early childhood investigation basing on the age differences of the kids affected.

In the endeavor to reach to the end of this study, the authors of the article headed over to conduct a study of the behavior of 933 children between the ages of 1-5 years. The children were individually matched in the ratio of 1:2 i.e. the case and controls. The bases for selection of these children were both their individual ages and the community in which they came from. During the study, a tool, Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel, was applied when seeking to find the relationship between the TV viewing time of the children and other related unhealthy effects they came with. In order to quantity the association between the viewing of TV and child obesity, a conditional logistic regression model was applied. The results of the study indicated that watching TV for more than an hour had a positive relationship with childhood obesity. It is also quite prevalent that TV viewing and childhood obesity are quite significant among children between the ages of 4 and 5 years. The results also revealed that children between 1 and 3 years were less overweight. Typically, this is a clear indicator of how TV watching can have detrimental impacts on the BMI index of a child. The ages in which obesity rates are high are kids that have reached the ages of watching TV.

The study is quite authentic in its mode of approach to the topic. This is evident by the fact that the study starts from a search of participants; which ultimately avails quite a large sample size. The method of enquiry into the study was evidently quantitative. The data was categorically analyzed using chi-squares and the continuous variables, on the other hand, were assessed using the independent sample t-test. All these were geared towards coming up with a true and fair conclusion on the effects of TV watching behavior on the overweight issues that the children were diagnosed with.

5. Alghadir, A. H., Gabr, S. A., & Iqbal, Z. A. (2016). Television watching, diet and body mass index of school children in Saudi Arabia. Pediatrics International, 58(4), 290-294.

This study was geared towards assessing whether TV watching was associated with an array of health and psychological issues that children had. The article is important for the study since it attempts to bring to light specific issues such as other predisposing factors leading up to child obesity. The researchers posit that an excessive intake of carbonated and sweetened drinks, fast food and an inadequate intake of fruits and dairy products amongst the children is linked to childhood obesity. Since there is limited available literature in the area, cross cultural aspects such as TV viewing, preferences of diet, and sedentary lifestyle have some vast reaching effects on the weight and health of school children. The survey was done in Saudi Arabia. An online survey was done with the aim of ascertaining the association between the effects of weight as well as the duration of watching TV using aspects of BMI and eating habits of the children.

The availability of TV in children’s rooms in Saudi Arabia, the presence of high-fat food content in school were associated with obesity amongst the children. It is critical to note that the parents, as well as teachers, need some training so that they can play an active preventive role in this.

The method of enquiry was quantitative, and this was meant to assess the effects of TV watching and other related factors on childhood obesity. A self-administered questionnaire was made available through an online platform. The link was sent to the school children so that they can participate in the study. The assessment included specific demographic data of the students and this packed family, their daily routine, the medical status of the children and the number of hours they spent watching TV each day. Other aspects of their self-perception of health, as well as the daily eating habits as well as their meal preferences, were also factored into the study. A total of 220 children between the ages of 12 and 16 were participants in the study, most of them attested to the fact that they watched TV for a higher duration, and they consumed high-fat content foods. All these were collected and then measured with their KPI.

REFERENCES:

Alghadir, A. H., Gabr, S. A., & Iqbal, Z. A. (2016). Television watching, diet and body mass index of school children in Saudi Arabia. Pediatrics International, 58(4), 290-294.

Caroli, M., Argentieri, L., Cardone, M., & Masi, A. (2004). Role of television in childhood obesity prevention. International Journal of Obesity, 28(3), S104-S108.

Giammattei, J., Blix, G., Marshak, H. H., Wollitzer, A. O., & Pettitt, D. J. (2003). Television watching and soft drink consumption: associations with obesity in 11-to 13-year-old schoolchildren. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 157(9), 882-886.

Hu, J., Ding, N., Yang, L., Ma, Y., Gao, M., & Wen, D. (2019). Association between television viewing and early childhood overweight and obesity: a pair-matched case-control study in China. BMC pediatrics, 19(1), 184.

Zhang, G., Wu, L., Zhou, L., Lu, W., & Mao, C. (2016). Television watching and risk of childhood obesity: a meta-analysis. The European Journal of Public Health, 26(1), 13-18.