Regular Exercise Without Diet Not Enough to Prevent Childhood Obesity
The researchers monitored children in 36 day care centers in Glasgow, Scotland. The 231 children were compared to another 250 who did not have any exercise classes.
09/10/06 Three 30-minute sessions of exercise per week made no difference to the body mass index (BMI) of 231 children, aged 4 years, over a six-month-period, says a study published in the British Medical Journal. The researchers concluded that regular exercise without good diet is not enough to prevent obesity in young children.
The researchers monitored children in 36 day care centers in Glasgow, Scotland. The 231 children were compared to another 250 who did not have any exercise classes. At the end of the six months 62% of the kids with exercise classes were overweight, compared to 61% of the children who had no exercise classes.
The study authors said that interventions to prevent early childhood obesity require changes not just at nursery school and the home, but also in the wider environment. They added that more research is needed to identify successful and sustainable interventions to prevent obesity.
If a child is obese/overweight during early childhood, his/her chances of being obese/overweight during the early teens is significantly higher. An obese/overweight teenager is much more likely to become an obese/overweight adult, when compared to a teenager of normal weight.
Even though the three exercise sessions did nothing to change the children's BMI, they did acquire better motor skills, said the researchers. This improvement could foster an increase in activity levels later on, as a result of increased confidence and/or ability in carrying out physical activity - which in turn could eventually affect body fat content.
