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Children who watch TV or play computer games for two to five hours a day are twice as likely to be overweight than children who do so for less than two hours a day. The children of working mothers are also twice as likely to be obese, presumably because working parents don't have enough time to closely watch their children's living and eating habits.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Thursday released the results of a 2005 national health and nutrition survey by Prof. Oh Sang-woo and his team at Dongguk University International Hospital.
The study found that children who watch TV or use a computer for six to seven hours a day were 3.1 times more likely to be obese than children with less than two hours of TV or computer, and children with eight hours or more a day were 4.7 times more likely to be obese. That's because the more they watch TV or use computers the less they exercise, the report said.
Some 11.9 percent of children whose mothers work were obese, 2.1 times more than those whose mothers don't (5.7 percent). Among households in which one parent had a body mass index (body weight divided by the square of their height) higher than 25, 12.3 percent of their children were obese. That's 2.2 times greater than those whose parents are not obese. This indicates that children inherit not only genes but also eating habits from their parents.
Some 11.2 percent of children who skip breakfast were obese, while only 7.9 percent of those who don't were obese. "People who skip breakfast tend to overeat at noon and in the evening, and as a result they are likely to gain weight," said Prof. Oh.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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