The Hidden Danger of Letting a Kindergartner Watch An Hour of TV Daily

Could one hour of TV for a kindergartner or first grader lead to obesity? A new study finds that that those who watch at least 60 minutes of television a day are more likely to be overweight or obese than those less exposed to screen time.

Researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics looked at the data of more than 11,000 kindergarten children between 2011 and 2012 who participated in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, a series of studies examining child development, school readiness and early school experiences.

According to the findings, children who watched more than 1 hour a day were at a greater risk of being overweight or obese than those who watched less than one hour (odds ratio 1.521 and 1.717, respectively).

DeBoer presented the findings at the annual meeting of Pediatric Academic Societies in San Diego on April 26.

"An hour is not that much time," lead author Mark DeBoer, MD, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Virginia, told HealthDay. "In that sense, I was surprised."

"Television [watching] is a very passive activity," DeBoer told TIME. "In this age range, when you're not sitting and doing something, you're running around. As much as they don't go out and jog, kindergartners are still at an age when they are frequently, if not constantly, on the move," he added.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) currently recommends no screen time for children under the age of 2, and limiting entertainment screen time for older children to less than one to two hours a day.

DeBoer believes that that already may be too much.

"Given the data presented in this study, the AAP may wish to lower its recommended TV viewing allowances," DeBoer said in a news release.