Daily use and monitoring of a - small or large - screen for more than three hours, is associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes in children, according to a new British scientific study. A previous study showed something similar for adults, but new research extends the risk to children.
The time a child spends in front of a TV, computer, tablet, mobile phone or game console increases various risk factors for diabetes, such as body fat accumulation, obesity and insulin resistance, resulting in fat cells do not respond to this hormone produced by the pancreas and regulate blood sugar levels.
Researchers, led by Dr. Claire Nightingale of the Institute for Population Health Research at St George's University in London, published in the British journal Pediatrics Archives of Disease in Childhood, , aged nine to ten years from 4.500 primary schools.
Of these children, at one end, 4% did not use screens at all, while at the other end, 18% used them for more than three hours. The time of the other children fluctuated somewhere in between. Boys were more likely (22%) than girls (14%) to spend more than three hours each day in front of a screen.
Children who stuck on screens, on average, for more than three hours a day, had higher levels of body fat, fasting blood insulin (increase 10,7%), insulin resistance (10,5%) and leptin (9,3, XNUMX%), of the hormone involved in appetite. All of these are risk factors for developing diabetes, although the scientists did not continue their study to see if the children actually developed the disease later.
However, researchers recommend reducing the use of screens by children to reduce the risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Encouraging exercise instead of a sedentary lifestyle and a healthy balanced diet are also essential for children.
Source: RES-EAP