No abstract

Background: Television (TV) is a medium that massively delivers entertainment, information and culture in Chilean society contributing to create sedentary habits in children. Objective: To associate the time dedicated to TV watching with nutritional status and food habits in 3 to 6 years old children. Design: A cross-sectional study of 45 children residents of the population "Jardín del Este" in Talca was performed through home visits. Nutritional status was assessed and the time spent watching TV was recorded. Data was analyzed using Stata 10.1. Results: The majority (73.3%) of children watched TV between 4 and 7 hours daily. The time devoted to watching TV was 3.47 ± 1.0 hours in eutrofic children, 4.7 ± 0.9 hours in overweight and 5.6 ± 0.9 hours in obese (p<0.05). Children who consumed more servings of sugar daily spent on average more hours watching TV (p<0,05). Conclusions: The time dedicated to watch TV at home influences the nutritional status and dietary habits of children.