Screens contribute to children’s unhealthy eating habits

Sweets, chocolate bars, cookies… When the little ones are in front of the screens, they love breakfast. And, of course, these are often unhealthy foods that contain a lot of sugars or bad fats. A recent study confirms this relationship between time spent in front of screens and bad eating habits in children and adolescents. These works Available online Journal of Clinical Medicine. According to the authors, all screens are concerned: computers, cell phones, televisions. They especially emphasize the responsibility of video games, which teenagers can sometimes spend more time with. To reach these conclusions, researchers at the University of Malaga in Spain analyzed more than 3,800 young people aged 8 to 16 and attended 245 schools across the country. In this way they collected data on these children and their physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, lifestyle and weight (especially in the case of es balance) and other family members during adolescence.

Mediterranean food, abandoned by the younger generation

“Mediterranean diet is one of the most complete, balanced and healthy foods because it prevents esophagus and heart disease.Julia Wornberg, a researcher, nutritionist and lead author of the study at the University of Malaga. Traditionally, like many countries around this sea, the Spaniards follow a Mediterranean diet. It is a recipe based on products that are good for the body such as olive oil, fruits, vegetables, legumes etc. The dishes are plentiful but balanced. This diet is considered virtuous because it prevents certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases, reduces cell aging, reduces the likelihood of childhood and adolescence, but improves their health during adolescence.

But, according to this study, the Mediterranean diet is left in favor of young Spaniards, fat, sweet food and therefore unhealthy ones. This phenomenon induces less consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes and other products of the Mediterranean diet due to the time spent in front of the screens. This new generation is happy to replace them with sweets, cookies or fast food, often synonymous with junk food. “It is very important to promote this diet (Mediterranean), As well as its associated lifestyle habits such as physical activity and reduced sedentary behavior”, Continues the researcher. True, According to the National Observatory for Physical Activity and a sedentary lifestyle (ONAPs), In 58 countries – including France – or more than 400,000 deaths per year, 3.8% of deaths are attributed to sitting for more than 3 hours a day.

Social inequalities promote bad eating behaviors

The study also highlights the importance of economic and social conditions. True, children and adolescents with less educated parents are more likely to adopt a poor lifestyle, especially in terms of food. They have little knowledge about nutrition and are not informed about the long-term effects of these bad eating behaviors: weight gain, diabetes, cholesterol, cardiovascular pathologies, etc. These families also have less money to eat good products or enroll their children in sports clubs. There are multiple factors that prevent these young people from leading a healthy lifestyle … Of the seven – or 13.9% – were overweight, 8.6% were those whose father was an executive Report of the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs, “Social Inequalities in Childhood Health” and published in May 2011.