Gazette features Bentley’s research on infants’ television exposure
| February 14, 2013 | |
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This article, featuring research by Dr. Peggy Bentley, was written by Mark Derewicz, in the UNC Office of Research Communications. It appeared in the Feb. 13 issue of University Gazette. Bentley is associate dean for global health and distinguished professor of nutrition at the Gillings School.
Dr. Bentley
It’s no secret why the United States is facing an obesity epidemic – poor diet and exercise habits. But UNC researcher Peggy Bentley said childhood obesity can sometimes take root in infancy, long before kids eat junk food or play their first video game. Bentley is the Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she also serves as associate dean. In 2003, her research team began studying what happens in the lives of children before they become overweight. They recruited 217 low-income mothers between 18 and 35 to study how they fed and cared for their babies through the first 18 months of life.
Turns out, about half of the mothers fed their babies in front of the television, something pediatricians caution against.
Read more on the University Gazette website.
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