Seeing Rambo take on an entire battalion of Burmese soldiers single-handed could give you a serious bout of adrenaline rush. However, scientists now say that it could also end up making you fat.
Research has shown an association between television viewing and higher food consumption and a more sedentary lifestyle.
But in an interesting new twist, a Cornell University research points out that not all television is alike. Some TV programs might lead people to eat twice as much as other programs.
“We find that if you’re watching an action movie while snacking, your mouth will see more action too,” says Aner Tal, the lead author of the study. “In other words, the more distracting the program is the more you will eat.”
In the study, conducted by researchers at the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, 94 undergraduates snacked on M&Ms, cookies, carrots and grapes while watching 20 minutes of television programming. A third of the participants watched a segment of the action movie ‘The Island’, another third watched a segment from the talk show ‘The Charlie Rose Show’ and yet another third watched the same segment from ‘The Island’ without sound.
“People who were watching ‘The Island’ ate almost twice as many snacks — 98% more than those watching the talk show,” says the study’s co-author Brian Wansink, professor and director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. “Even those watching ‘The Island’ without sound ate 36% more.” Apparently the more engrossing the action the more people eat.
People watching the more distracting content also consumed more calories, with 354 calories consumed by those watching ‘The Island’ (314 calories with no sound) compared to 215 calories consumed by those watching ‘The Charlie Rose Show’.
Wansink notes that the best solution is to bring out the healthy munchable snacks, like carrots. “The good news,” says Wansink, “is that action movie watchers also eat more healthy foods, if that’s what’s in front of them”.