Obesity is a serious health-related disorder. Obesity is associated with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and stroke. Juvenile obesity is an increasingly common problem. Additionally, there is strong evidence that obesity """"""""tracks"""""""" or persists into adulthood. Despite the medical and psychosocial consequences of childhood and adolescent obesity, the prevention and treatment of pediatric obesity have proven extremely difficult. Studies are needed to identify biobehavioral risk factors associated with childhood and adolescent obesity to optimize prevention and treatment efforts. One likely risk factor for pediatric obesity is the amount of time spent watching television. While it is possible that increased eating and decreased activity are possible mechanisms for the role that television has in childhood obesity development, a recent investigation indicates that energy expenditure significantly lowers during television viewing relative to a baseline condition. There was also evidence that the reduction of metabolic rate during television viewing was greater in obese (14.3%) compared to normal-weight children (7.7%). These initial findings warrant a careful investigation of their generalizability. Moreover, a careful investigation of the role of the most likely mechanism (fidgeting or lack of fidgeting) responsible for these results is needed. Thus, we propose the following Specific Aims: (1) To conduct a large-scale study of the role of television viewing, relative to a resting baseline, on the role of energy expenditures of obese and non-obese premenarcheal females; (2) To determine the generalizability of theses results by comparing the metabolic effects of two different types of television (passive versus active/stimulating) and a non-television quiet activity (being read to) with resting values; and (3) To determine if changes in fidgeting (a significant percentage of total energy expenditure) will account for the hypothesized changes in metabolic rate during television viewing.
| Cooper, Theodore V; Klesges, Lisa M; Debon, Margaret et al. (2006) An assessment of obese and non obese girls' metabolic rate during television viewing, reading, and resting. Eat Behav 7:105-14 |
