Obesity in both children and adults has increased dramatically over the past three years, increasing risk factors for hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, and heart disease. U. S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, MD has even called obesity “the greatest threat to public health today.” So what’s to blame? According to numerous studies, “unhealthy habits and inaction.” (Read: too much TV, too little exercise.)

Get smart. Take control of your family’s television. Check out our Solutions to learn what you can do to protect your kids. Get involved with the Big Picture and join the STA in showing TV programmers there’s an ongoing need for quality kids TV.

Tune In To These Facts Almost half of children ages 8-16 watch 3-5 hours of television per day, and kids who watch the most TV have the highest incidence of obesity, according to the National Institute of Health. Children who watch more than three hours of TV per day are fifty percent more likely to be obese than those who watch less than two hours per day, reports an article in the International Journal of Obesity. The amount of time adolescents spend watching music videos, TV soap operas, and other daytime television corresponds with increased body dissatisfaction and a desire to be unrealistically thin, according to a 1996 study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

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