Research

Energy balance

Prolonged television watching is independently associated with a significantly increased risk of developing obesity and type 2 diabetes in women, even after adjusting for physical activity levels.

If you watch a lot of TV, be aware that it carries a specific health risk for obesity and diabetes that is not fully negated by your exercise routine. Try to limit TV time to under 10 hours per week and incorporate light activity like standing or walking around the house to mitigate these risks.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Time spent watching TV was positively associated with risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes. In the multivariate analyses adjusting for age, smoking, exercise levels, dietary factors, and other covariates, each 2-h/d increment in TV watching was associated with a 23% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17%-30%) increase in obesity and a 14% (95% CI, 5%-23%) increase in risk of diabetes
Frank B. Hu et al. · JAMA · 2003

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort (Nurses' Health Study), long follow-up, rigorous adjustment for confounders, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Television Watching and Other Sedentary Behaviors in Relation to Risk of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Women

Frank B. Hu et al. · JAMA · 2003

DOI 10.1001/jama.289.14.1785

cohort · n=68497Cited 1,903×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →