Ottawa: Every extra hour of television watched by the children under age 2-4 weekly, have direct impact on their fitness and fatness, as they are at risks of having increased waistlines in later childhood, a Canadian study found.

The study, in a BioMed central journal, tracked TV viewing habits of around 1,314 children and found that children should not watch more than two hours of TV a day.

Researchers also found that with every additional hour of watching TV, could add half a millimeter to their waist circumference and reduce level of long jump performance by the age of 10.

Lead researcher Dr Linda Pagani, from the University of Montreal, said: “The bottom line is that watching too much television – beyond recommended amounts – is not good.

“These findings support clinical suspicions that more screen time in general contributes to the rise in excess weight in our population.”, She added.

According to researchers, at the start of study the average amount of Television watched by toddlers were 8.8 hours a week, this increased on average by six hours over the next two years to reach 14.8 hours a week by the age of four-and-a-half.

The effect of 18 hours of television at 4.5 years of age would by the age of 10 results in an extra 7.6mm of waist because of the child’s TV habit and reduction in an ablity to jump from standing by 0.36cm, the study said.

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