Can Watching TV Kill You?

That may sound a little melodramatic, but this is what recent research suggests, bluntly put: watching TV for more than 2 hours per day is linked with an increased risk of death.

TV watching is the number one sedentary activity of our time.  Sixty percent of American adults watch TV for more than two hours per day on average, with a slightly lower number of hours logged for our western european counterparts.  


Several studies have examined the association between TV watching and risk of diabetes, heart disease, or death.   The data from several of these studies was recently brought together in a meta analysis by Grøntved and colleagues in the Journal of the American Medical Association.  Upon evaluation of all prospective cohort studies in this area in the last four decades, they found that over 7-8 years of follow up, watching TV for two hours per day is associated with:

• a 20% increased risk of getting type 2 diabetes; 
• a 15% increased risk of cardiovascular disease; 
• and a 13% increased risk of death.

Put another way, for every 2 hours of TV watched daily, the authors found that per 100,000 people, there would be 176 cases of type 2 diabetes and 104 deaths per year. For mortality (death) risk, they found the risk really started to accelerate above 3 hours per day of TV watching. 


It may not seem like rocket science that a sedentary activity like TV watching is associated with increased risk, but it turns out that the relationship is much more complex than that.  As blogged previously, as many as 25% of the day's calories are consumed in front of the tube, and TV watching results in a preference for calorie laden foods (advertising may be partly to blame here).  In addition, emotion, adrenaline, and/or stress generated from watching your favorite, riveting TV program, may result in increased hunger as well.

It is more clear than ever before: let's work to keep our tube time to a minimum and spend the time being active instead!


Dr Sue


www.drsue.ca © 2011 drsuetalks@gmail.com


Follow me on Twitter for daily tips! @drsuepedersen

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Eat Breakfast - And Make it High Protein!

We have long extolled the virtues of eating breakfast as an important weight loss and weight maintenance strategy: we often counsel patients to 'eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper'.  A recent study gives us more insight as to just how eating breakfast affects our brain activity and helps us control weight - especially if we load it up with a good dose of protein!

Heather Leidy and colleagues looked at the effects of breakfast eating in overweight, breakfast-skipping adolescent girls.  Ten girls were provided a normal protein (18g) and a high protein (50g) breakfast (each containing 490 calories) for a week each, and their appetite, feelings of fullness, and brain activation responses (using functional MRI scans) were compared to their baseline values in their usual breakfast-skipping habits.

The study found that the addition of breakfast resulted in significant reductions in brain activation responses to food stimuli several hours later, in areas of the brain that are associated with hunger, desire to eat, food motivation, and reward.  Decreased brain activation in these areas (including the hippocampus, amygdala, and others) were associated with lower appetite scores and higher sense of fullness as ranked by study participants.



In addition, the high protein breakfast led to even lower activation in some of these important food intake regulating areas of the brain, compared to the normal protein breakfast.

Therefore, this study shows that eating breakfast may help to regulate brain activity to control eating behaviours later in the day, especially if the breakfast is high in protein. 

So, get out your Egg Beaters, your no-salt-added cottage cheese, your skim milk, and your lean cuts of deli meat - there are lots of options to create a high protein, healthy start to your day!



(Please note that if you have any kidney problems, that you should speak with your doctor about how much protein in your diet is right for you, before making changes to the protein in your diet.)

Dr. Sue © 2011   www.drsue.ca     drsuetalks@gmail.com

Follow me on Twitter for more tips! drsuepedersen

Follow me on Facebook: drsue.ca

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ERGEM: Gastric Bypass Research Study

I was interviewed this week by the Danish Heart Institute, regarding a research study I have put together with colleagues at the Department of Nutrition, University of Copenhagen this year. It's called the ERGEM study: Effect of Roux en y Gastric bypass on Energy Metabolism.


You can also read about our study on www.clinicaltrials.gov.


More to come about this study on this site www.drsue.ca - stay tuned!!


Dr. Sue © 2009 www.drsue.ca / drsuetalks@gmail.com

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Dr. Sue is passionate about the pursuit of knowledge, and as such, she is actively involved in the world of medical research. In fact, she is currently on a research sabattical at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, where she is involved in trials of weight loss medication, and studies of the relationship between poor sleep and obesity. In addition, she is currently writing two large study protocols, designed to gain a better understanding of the dramatic weight loss seen following gastric bypass surgery.

Peer reviewed medical publications include:

• Pedersen S, Kang J, Kline G. Portion control plate for weight loss in obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a controlled clinical trial. Archives of Internal Medicine 2007 Jun 25; 167(12) 1277-83.
  Comment in: ACP Journal Club 2007 Nov-Dec 147(3):68.
  
• Pedersen S, Brar S, Faris P, and Corenblum B. A validated questionnaire for use in the diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome. Canadian Family Physician 2007 June; 53:1041-47.
  
• Pedersen, SD., and Wong, N. Dyslipidemia: when, why, and how to treat. Parkhurst Exchange 2003; 11(11):113-19.
  
• Pedersen, SD, Dewey D, and Parsons H. Stress levels experienced by parents of enterally fed children. Child Care Health Devel 2004; 30(5):507-13.

Dr. Sue also serves as peer reviewer of potential original research publications for the following medical journals:

• The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism
• British Medical Journal
• International Journal of Obesity
• The Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation
• Student British Medical Journal

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