Associations between sedentary behaviours and dietary intakes among adolescents

Abstract

ObjectiveThe purpose of the current study was to examine associations of individual and aggregated screen-based behaviours, and total sitting time, with healthy and unhealthy dietary intakes among adolescents.DesignCross-sectional study of adolescents. Participants self-reported durations of television viewing, computer use, playing electronic games (e-games), total sitting time, daily servings of fruits and vegetables, and frequency of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), diet beverages, fast foods and discretionary snacks. Logistic regression models were conducted to identify associations of screen-based behaviours, total screen time and total sitting time with dietary intakes.SettingVictoria, Australia.SubjectsAdolescents (n 939) in School Year 11 (mean age 16·8 years).ResultsThe results showed that watching television (≥2 h/d) was positively associated with consuming SSB and diet beverages each week and consuming discretionary snacks at least once daily, whereas computer use (≥2 h/d) was inversely associated with daily fruit and vegetable intake and positively associated with weekly fast-food consumption. Playing e-games (any) was inversely associated with daily vegetable intake and positively associated with weekly SSB consumption. Total screen (≥2 h/d) and sitting (h/d) times were inversely associated with daily fruit and vegetable consumption, with total screen time also positively associated with daily discretionary snack consumption and weekly consumption of SSB and fast foods.ConclusionsIndividual and aggregated screen-based behaviours, as well as total sitting time, are associated with a number of indicators of healthy and unhealthy dietary intake. Future research should explore whether reducing recreational screen time improves adolescents’ diets.

Factors Associated With Inadequate Milk Consumption Among Adolescents: National School Health Survey - Pense 2012

“…21,22 Among teenagers, soft drinks and other types of industrialized beverages are among the most consumed foods while watching TV. 11,23 This practice partly supports the growing trend of substituting milk for other processed and sugar-rich drinks. 10 Thus, excessive exposure to electronic screens represents a higher risk of inadequate milk consumption, as identified in this survey of adolescents who participated in PeNSE 2012.…”

“…In fact, physical inactivity has been associated with the consumption of low nutritional quality and high energy density foods. 11,24 Thus, physical inactivity affects food choices, contributes to less dietary variety and, consequently, less essential nutrients, as demonstrated by inadequate intake of milk and dairy products, legumes, fruits, meat, vegetables and cereals. 24,25 As for Brazilian macroregions, adolescents from schools in the Northeast Region had a higher risk of inadequate milk consumption.…”

“…Such changes in consumption have led to calcium intake below the recommended amount and higher consumption of low nutritional value foods. [8][9][10][11][12] In this context, the objective of the present study was to identify factors associated with inadequate milk consumption among adolescents. Additionally, it aimed to contribute to the development of strategies for control and prevention of nutritional disorders and, consequently, changes in growth and of bone metabolism in this age group.…”

Screen time and eating during screen time: associations with dietary intake in children and adolescents

“…Screen time, including television (TV) viewing, has been associated with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents [1][2][3][4], as well as with poorer dietary quality [5][6][7][8][9][10]. More specifically, among children, eating during screen time has been related to lower consumption of fruits and vegetables and higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and high-fat/high-sugar foods [11].…”

“…Progress in this area has been difficult because most studies of dietary intake lack information on actual food intake during screen time. Instead, many studies have assessed the association between overall screen time and dietary intake, regardless of whether the dietary intake actually occurred while watching screens [8,15,18,19]. In addition, the few studies that do have a detailed measure of dietary intake during screen time [20][21][22] lack information regarding time spent during screen time.…”