Date Published: 11 January 2010

Study raises questions about television viewing and heart disease

The more television you watch the greater your risk of heart and circulatory disease according to a new study published in the journal Circulation.

Researchers found that for every hour of television somebody watched their risk of heart and circulatory disease increased.

Fotini Rozakeas, Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said:

“ Although this study suggests a strong association between watching TV and dying of heart and circulatory disease it is not clear why. The study was observational and previous research has not suggested such a dramatic link.

The researchers had allowed for the poor dietary habits associated with watching a lot of TV like eating unhealthy snacks, and also smoking, so it is not clear cut why people were considered to be so at risk of death and disease.

It raises questions such as if you are physically active, and not overweight, are you still at risk if you watch a lot of TV? And how much is too much? Further research is needed as many people will be very surprised by these findings."

Journal Paper: Television viewing time and mortality, the Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle study by Dunstan et al. Published by Circulation journal doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.894824

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