When that happens it's easy to let healthy habits slip away and less healthy habits take over. With only one third of children actually getting the recommended number of daily vegetable servings, Coon found the impact on diet to be damaging. The findings, said Tufts' Katherine Tucker , are significant. During her research, the Tufts nutritional sociologist found that families with high television use had a higher intake of processed meats, salty snacks, and pizza and a lower intake of fruits and vegetables, when compared to those with low television use. The findings may be the first of their kind.
Coon attributes the connection to a number of factors.
The first is that high television viewing goes along with a cluster of family food behaviors where people tend to be unfocused. When a family is in that kind of mode, there is a tendency to reach for easy solutions. Those solutions tend to be less healthy, Coon added. The Tufts researcher also found that the TV programming, itself, may also have had an impact. Education may also play a role.