96 From the 1 Department of Clinical Research, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, India; 2 Department of Human Nutrition Unit, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India Received: Jan. 11, 2015; Accepted: Jan. 13, 2015 Correspondence to: Dr. Ajeet Singh Bhadoria, Department of Clinical Research, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, India. Room No. 1042, D-1, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi 110 070, India. Tel.: 91-11-46300000; Fax: 91-11-26123504; E-mail: ajeetsinghbhadoria@gmail.com DOI: 10.4103/2319-4170.151185 Author’s Reply: Television Viewing and Overweight and Obesity amongst Children Ajeet Singh Bhadoria 1 , Umesh Kapil 2 W e are extremely thankful for the learned reader for critically going through our research work and mak- ing valuable comments on our study. [1] We agree to the comments and would like to further elucidate certain issues in relation to the comments made. We would further like to share with readers of Biomedical Journal that the linking of TV watching to obe- sity was documented more than 25 years ago. [2] Since then, extensive research has confirmed the link between TV view- ing and obesity in children and adults. Research studies which followed children over long periods of time have consistently found that the more TV children watch, the more likely they are to gain excess weight. [3] Studies designed to reduce children’s TV use have found improvements in body mass index (BMI), body fat, and other obesity-related measures. [4] With economic transitions and rapid modernization, the duration of time spent on the leisure time sedentary activi- ties like TV viewing, video games, mobiles, tablets, iPads, laptops, and other electronic gadgets among children has tremendously increased. Earlier it was mainly TV viewing, but now with pouring in of electronic gadgets, children are also spending a lot of time on these gadgets. Therefore, it is very true that time spent on TV viewing cannot alone be linked to childhood overweight and obesity; it is basically the lack of physical activity which is an important risk factor for development of obesity. Concurrent with decrease in energy expenditure, increased time for leisure activities has been associated with the epidemic of obesity. [2] In a study from Greece, the effect of TV viewing time on childhood obesity was found to be independent of physical activity status and may be attributed to the increased total energy intake during TV watching. [5] There are many associated factors which could be linked to obesity and duration of time spent on TV, computer, mobiles, and video games, like increased snacking behavior, motivation to consume junk food by advertisements, and interference with normal sleep pat- terns. To combat the current epidemic of obesity among chil- dren, we will require a major change in society’s recognition to adverse impact of duration of time spent on electronic gadgets like TV, mobiles, computers, laptops, iPads, and video games. REFERENCES 1. Kapil U, Bhadoria AS. Television viewing and overweight and obesity amongst children. Biomed J 2014;37:337‑8. 2. Dietz WH Jr, Gortmaker SL. Do we fatten our children at the television set? Obesity and television viewing in children and adolescents. Pediatrics 1985;75:807‑12. 3. Rey‑Lopez JP, Vicente‑Rodriguez G, Biosca M, Moreno LA. Sedentary behaviour and obesity development in children and adolescents. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 2008;18:242‑51. 4. Epstein LH, Valoski AM, Vara LS, McCurley J, Wisniewski L, Kalarchian MA, et al. Effects of decreasing sedentary behavior and increasing activity on weight change in obese children. Health Psychol 1995;14:109‑15. 5. Manios Y, Kourlaba G, Kondaki K, Grammatikaki E, Anastasiadou A, Roma‑Giannikou E. Obesity and television watching in preschoolers in Greece: The GENESIS study. Obesity 2009;17:2047‑53. Letter to Editor