Watching television may be a bigger culprit in the risk of youth in the industrialized world being overweight than candy and chocolate, according to Ian Janssen, Ph.D., of Queen's University, Kingston, Ont.
In a self-reported cross-sectional survey of 137,593 youths aged 10–16 years in 34 industrialized countries, a higher intake of sweets was associated with lower odds of being overweight in 91% of the countries, the investigators said. And there was no consistent link between overweight and fruit, vegetable, and soft drink intake (Obes. Rev. 2005;6:123–32).
However, greater television viewing time was linked to greater odds of being overweight in 65% of the countries.
But time spent on a computer did not correlate with being overweight, Dr. Janssen and his associates said.
The investigators noted that greater physical activity was associated with lower odds of being overweight in 88% of the countries.
The results imply that “physical inactivity and television viewing are important determinants of overweight in youth throughout the industrialized world,” they said.
The highest prevalence of overweight youths was found in Malta (25.4%), the United States (25.1%), and Wales (21.2%).
The lowest prevalence of overweight youths was found in Lithuania (5.1%), Russia (5.9%), and Latvia (5.9%).
The highest prevalence of obese youths was found in Malta (7.9%), the United States (6.8%), and England (5.1%), while the lowest prevalence of obese youths was found in Lithuania (0.4%), Russia (0.6%), and Latvia (0.5%).
The study results are based on the 2001–2002 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study.