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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1423383

Influence of eating while watching TV on food preference and overweight/obesity among adolescents in China: a longitudinal study

Provisionally accepted
Jinli Xian Jinli Xian 1,2Tingwei Ren Tingwei Ren 2*Ming Kuang Ming Kuang 2*
  • 1 West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
  • 2 Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang, Sichuan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Eating while watching TV was found associated with unhealthy food preferences and obesity in adolescents in foreign studies, which is not clear in China.The study aims to explore the influence of eating while watching TV on food preferences and overweight/obesity in Chinese adolescents. Methods: Data from 1768 adolescents (aged 12-17 years) in the 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) was analysed. The height and weight were measured. Mixed effect models were used to identify the associations between eating while watching TV and adolescents' food preferences and overweight/obesity. Results: Adolescents eating while watching TV ≥1 time/week were more likely to prefer fast food, salty snacks and soft drinks than those eating while watching TV <1 time/week. Adolescents eating meals while watching TV ≥1 time/week were less likely to prefer vegetables than those eating meals while watching TV <1 time/week. In addition, adolescents eating snacks while watching TV ≥1 time/week were more likely to be overweight/obesity than those eating meals while watching TV <1 time/week (odds ratio [OR] = 7.16; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-36.93). Conclusions: Eating snacks while watching TV was positively associated with adolescents' unhealthy food preferences and overweight/obesity. Eating meals while watching TV was associated with adolescents' unhealthy food preferences. Implementing web-based Community-Running Title 2 based participatory research (CBPR) about reducing eating while watching TV may be a practical strategy to develop healthy food preferences and prevent overweight/obesity in Chinese adolescents.

    Keywords: Television, Meals, Snacks, food preference, Overweight, adolescents, China

    Received: 25 Apr 2024; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xian, Ren and Kuang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Tingwei Ren, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang, 621000, Sichuan Province, China
    Ming Kuang, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang, 621000, Sichuan Province, China

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