"Watching BBC documentaries likely to make you slim and healthy, says study"

From the BBC:

Watching well made documentaries means you are more likely to be slim and healthy, according to researchers.

Previous studies have suggested a link between watching high quality television and health but the team at King's College tried to establish which genres of television were best.

The findings, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, showed people ate the healthiest food while watching science and history programmes. Fact-based programming is linked to good health because it distracts people from the urge to constantly nibble.

The study followed 94 test subjects who were given bowls of chocolate, biscuits, carrots or grapes while watching television. The scientists then compared how much food was consumed while the volunteers were engrossed in the three part series "Botany: A Blooming History" and then subjected to the ghastly 2005 'action movie', "The Island".

They demonstrated that people consumed only half as much by weight and 40% less by calories during the science programme, as well as engaging in more stimulating banter with their companions.

The difference was most pronounced in people who had been to university and lived in the Home Counties.