• Home

Meal time TV viewing
unhealthy, says study

Majority of the children are exposed to TV viewing during meal times, leading to an unhealthy dietary behaviour and consequent development of serious health issues.

Majority of the children are exposed to TV viewing during meal times, leading to an unhealthy dietary behaviour and consequent development of serious health issues, according to the first ever study done to assess the family food environment and child-eating behaviour in the UAE.

Most mothers said they find it difficult to have dinner together as a family, though the study found that most Emirati families still had the meal together at least three or more times a week.

The sample study done by a Zayed University student in Abu Dhabi in December 2010, explored the home food environment and child eating behaviour of Emiratis who comprised 92 per cent of the sample group. Sixty one, four and five-year-old students from the Horizon Private School were selected as the sample group for the study.

“We know that children develop eating habits when young that continue through to adulthood,” said Sara Ahmed, a Nutrition student who graduated recently from the Department of Natural Science and Public Health at ZU.

“The study found that most mothers switched on the TV during dinner time which had a direct impact on the eating habit of their child,” said Sara, 22. “This could either lead a child into becoming obese or remain under nourished,” she added.

Findings from the study were also selected for presentation at the first regional conference on nutrition in Qatar last month and will also be presented to the ministries of health and education.

Nearly half of the mothers in the sample group reported that domestic help prepared the meals. Around 69 per cent of mothers found it difficult to have dinner together as a family while nearly all of the mothers (96 per cent) decided the menu for the family dinner. Only a small percentage of children (27 per cent) helped in dinner preparation, while the rest (73 per cent) helped once or less a month.

The study also found that dinner was considered a pleasant time for 78 per cent of the families, where 82 per cent of the families agreed that dinner was a time for family connectedness and communication. Dr Malin Garemo, Assistant Professor at ZU who supervised the study said, “We have reached the conclusion that TV should be limited for children, especially during meal times.” However, a positive point found from the study is that many families are still eating together, she added.

She also said that parents are role models for children. “Positive language and behaviour during meal times have shown to foster healthy eating habits in children.” The results also showed that children of highly educated mothers were more likely to have positive eating behaviour, compared to children of mothers with less education. However, there was no significant difference in the child-eating behaviour among children with working and children with non-working mothers, it found. The study findings also suggested that using pressure as a feeding strategy is negatively associated with eating behaviour during the meal. “Pushing kids into finishing their meals is also likely to leave them less happy during a meal time,” she said.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.com