Search Here

Men take note. Watching action films like Die Hard, Rambo and Star Wars can make you fat, according to a new study.

New research reveals that people eat greater amounts of food while watching Hollywood action films than when watching other movie genres.

Researchers said this is important because television has been blamed for the American obesity epidemic because it promotes a sedentary lifestyle.

However, researchers from Cornell University discovered that certain programs make people eat more junk food. In the latest study, participants who watched shows filled with action and sounds ate more chocolate, cookies, carrots and grapes than those who watched an interview program.

The latest study involved 94 college students with an average age of 20. Participants were divided into three groups: the action movie group, the interview program group, and the action movie group with no sound. Participants were given M&Ms, cookies, carrots and grapes to snack on while watching their programs. Researchers measured how much participants by weighing and comparing the snacks before and after the 20-minute program.

The findings revealed that participants who watched "The Island" with sound ate 98 percent more grams of food and 65 percent more calories than those who watched "Charlie Rose."

Surprisingly, participants in the group asked to watch the silent version of "The Island" ate more than those who watched "Charlie Rose".

"More distracting TV content appears to increase food consumption: action and sound variation are bad for one's diet. The more distracting a TV show, the less attention people appear to pay to eating, and the more they eat," researchers wrote in the study.

The findings are published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.