Watching too much television may not only help to make children fat, it may also raise their blood pressure, US researchers said yesterday.
They found that obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were three times more likely to have high blood pressurethan children who watched fewer than two hours a day.
"There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children," Dr Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Many studies have found a strong link between watching TV and obesity, but this is the first study to show a link between TV and blood pressure in obese children, the researchers claim.
Obesity in children is on the rise, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. And high blood pressure in children has been rising with obesity.
The problem is often undiagnosed in children, and if undetected, high blood pressure can quietly damage the organs, especially the kidneys.
The researchers found children who watched two to four hours of TV were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood pressure compared with those who watched less than two hours.
The authors say the study illustrates the need for parents to curb their children's TV time, especially for children who are already obese or have high blood pressure.
The American Academy of Paediatrics recommends children watch fewer than two hours of TV per day.
