How watching less TV could prevent 1 in 9 cases of heart disease
TELEVISION is a major contributor to heart disease, with one in nine cases being preventable if people spent less time in front of it, a study has found.
Watching TV is a particular risk for the heart, experts say, because viewers sit for hours without moving while eating unhealthy snacks.
Researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Hong Kong looked at more than 373,000 people who took part in a UK study. These people, aged 40 to 69, were asked how much TV they watched during their free time.
They were followed up for an average of 12 years, during which time 9,185 of them were diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
Those who watched TV for no more than an hour a day were 16 per cent less likely to develop coronary heart disease than people who watched four or more hours.
The researchers concluded that almost 11 per cent of cases could be prevented if people cut viewing from two or more hours a day to one hour or less.
Health experts have backed the findings, encouraging people to go for a walk, or try doing squats and press-ups during ad breaks.
Dr Youngwon Kim, assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong and visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge, who led the study, said: ‘There could be several explanations.
‘We tend to watch TV for prolonged, uninterrupted periods ... and we might snack on unhealthy foods.’
The study, in the journal BMC Medicine, found a link between TV and heart disease even when people’s genetic risk of the condition was taken into account.
Researchers discovered people who spent an hour or less in front of the TV were six per cent less likely to develop coronary heart disease than those who watched TV for two or more hours a day.
They were 16 per cent less likely than those watching four or more hours of TV, even when other factors were accounted for.
But the time people spent on computers, which researchers also looked at, was not linked to a greater risk of heart disease, probably because people sit in front of the TV for longer, uninterrupted periods, particularly after dinner. in the UK 2.3million people have coronary heart disease, suggesting that 250,000 could have avoided it by watching less TV.
However the study looked at middle-aged white people only, so may not be applicable to others.
Chloe Macarthur, at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘When the temptation hits you to watch one more episode, try standing up and stretching, or go for an evening stroll instead.’
‘We snack on unhealthy foods’