Fecha de publicación: 01/01/2025 Fuente: Food sciences and nutrition Abstract
This chapter provides an update on and the synthesis of the most current evidence on screen use, nutritional intake, and obesity in youth. The strongest evidence of a mechanism linking screen media use to obesity is through repeated exposures to unhealthy food marketing and excess eating while viewing screens. Evidence of the neurocognitive effects on dietary consumption via the effects of executive function, satiety, and memory is emerging. Interventions to reduce children’s screen time or to incorporate screen media into improving nutrition and obesity outcomes have had mixed results. The evidence base is also limited by imprecise measurements of screen use and a focus on the total duration of screen use without capturing the type, content, quality, or interactivity. Recommendations are offered to researchers, clinicians, providers, policymakers, advocates, and industry leaders to develop and validate accurate methods to capture the content, context, functions, timing, and quantity of children’s screen time to better understand linkages to children’s dietary intake and dietary habits; to counsel families on health boundaries for screen media use; to develop effective strategies to reduce sedentary screen use; and to expand parental control features and regulate industry to limit children’s exposure to food marketing and food placement on screen media.