The message is not new, but it does not mean that it is relevant: children spend excessive time in front of screens. Now it has been the pediatricians who have once again raised their voices to warn that “more than 60% of children spend more than two hours a day in front of a screen” and that is taking a toll on their weight and health.
Taking advantage of the fact that Saturday is the European Day against Obesity, the pediatricians wanted to recall that obesity is the most prevalent chronic disease among Spanish children and adolescents, that one in three children is overweight or obese, and that despite the preventive plans and doctors’ recommendations the figures do not improve. And in this difficulty in reducing the prevalence of obesity (it has only decreased half a percentage point since 2019 according to the PASOS 22 study) is where child health specialists see the effects of inappropriate use of screens.
As explained by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) in a statement, “this is a new obesity risk factor that has emerged” in recent times because the proportion of children and adolescents who meet the WHO recommendations on exposure to screens (less than two hours a day) is very low and has decreased significantly in the last four years. According to the PASOS22 study, promoted by the Gasol Foundation, only 36% of children meet this recommendation during the week, and the figure drops to 16.2% on weekends.
And this excessive consumption of screens, in addition to encouraging a sedentary lifestyle, isolation, addictive behaviors or depression, leads to an increase in the intake of unhealthy foods and a greater risk of obesity, as warned by Dr. Julio Ãlvarez Pitti, coordinator of the AEP health promotion committee.
The relationship between the inappropriate use of screens and obesity is explained by several mechanisms and has been verified in different scientific studies. “There is evidence that the greater the number of hours spent on screens -and in particular in front of the television-, the greater the weight gain”, summarize the pediatricians.
There is also consensus that children who spend more time in front of screens have a higher consumption of unhealthy foods, such as sugary drinks, salty snacks, cakes, sweets and other products with a high caloric content, and instead eat fewer fruits and vegetables.
In this sense, a meta-analysis published in Plos One after reviewing multiple studies on the influence of online food advertising on the eating behaviors of children and adolescents concluded that unhealthy food advertising that reaches minors through the Internet and of social networks favors its consumption, reduces the intake of healthy foods and, consequently, leads to a less healthy diet.
“In these stages of life, food preferences are developed that will condition our future habits; advertising claims aimed at children and adolescents have a great impact on them, and the problem is that the least healthy products continue to be the most advertised” , warns Dr. Rosaura Leis, coordinator of the nutrition and breastfeeding committee of the AEP.
Hence the interest of doctors and other experts in advancing in the regulation of the advertising of unhealthy food for children and in continuing with the legislation presented last year by the ministry of Alberto Garzón, whose implementation is paralyzed by the veto of the ministry of Agriculture, directed by Luis Planas.
But there are other ways in which screen time influences a person’s diet and is related to weight gain and childhood obesity. First of all, if you spend a lot of time in front of your mobile phone, computer or television, it is very likely that you will also end up eating with the screen in front of you, and this favors distracted eating, losing track of how much you are eating and having less awareness of the satiety signals sent by the body. The result is that you will eat more and that can contribute to weight gain.
On the other hand, the greater exposure to images and messages related to food can affect both the choice of food and the child’s relationship with food or with their body image.
In addition, various investigations have found that the excessive use of screens, especially before going to sleep, can interfere with sleep patterns and little sleep or poor quality sleep alters appetite-regulating hormones and leads to a greater intake of foods, especially unhealthy ones, which again can contribute to weight gain.
On the other hand, the relationship between the use of screens and the decrease in physical activity is not so clear, although some studies have observed that less active adolescents spend more time in front of them.
