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TV Plays Role in Compulsive Snacking

Want to cut down on snacking? Don't eat between meals while watching television.People snacking while watching late-night TV ate 40% more than those munching with the TV set turned off, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of The Endocrine Society, held June 2–5 in Toronto.

Alan Hirsch, MD, director of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, measured 45 adults' potato chip consumption during 5-minute periods over 3 weeks. The participants ate potato chips while watching a 5-minute monologue by David Letterman or Jay Leno, or during a 5-minute nonstimulating period with the television turned off.

The subjects were blinded to the true nature of the study and served as their own controls by eating chips under all three conditions on successive weeks in random order. The researchers asked participants to pay particular attention to the potato chips' sensory characteristics, such as taste and smell.

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Participants tended to eat substantially more while distracted by an entertaining monologue—an average of 44% more while watching Letterman and 42% more while watching Leno—compared with what they consumed when the TV was shut off. No differences were noted in terms of body mass index, enjoyment of the potato chips, or enjoyment of the monologue.

Hirsch suggests that watching television distracts people from the usual sensory cues and internal body changes that signal satiety. The more distracted a person is, the more he or she will eat, he says.

If you want to lose weight, he concludes, turn off the TV and pay attention to your food.

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Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldfarb, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Goldfarb, B. Social Bookmarking                What's this?