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More Intense Exercise, Home-Cooked Meals Curb Childhood Obesity
by Linda Little
Nov. 18, 2005 (Dallas) — Children who participate in intense exercise and who eat at home have a reduced risk of becoming overweight and obese, according to two studies presented here at the American Heart Association 2005 Scientific Sessions.
Swedish researchers reported that children who participate in more intense exercise such as running have less body fat and less chance of being obese. A second study by Wisconsin researchers found that children who eat out four or more times weekly are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
The Swedish researchers assessed whether body fat was related to physical activity in young children.
"Higher goals should be set for physical activity in children," Mangus Dencker, MD, a physician from Malmo, Sweden, told Medscape. "It may not be enough for children to perform moderate exercise to avoid weight gain."
The study included 248 children (140 boys and 108 girls, aged 8 to 11 years) from four different schools. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry was performed to measure body fat. Total body fat was calculated as a percentage of body weight.
Daily physical activity as well as the intensity of the activity was assessed by accelerometers worn around each child's waist for four days. Data from the accelerometers allowed determination of the mean counts/minute showing general physical activity. Number of minutes spent performing more than six metabolic equivalents per day were counted using established cut-off points.
Boys had a mean body fat percentage of 16.4% (range, 6.2% - 44.4%). Girls had a mean body fat percentage of 22.1% (range, 6.4% - 45.7%).
Natural logarithm showed a significant negative correlation between general physical activity and in body fat percentage (r = -0.29 for boys and r = -.32 for girls; P < .05). A similar negative correlation was found between the number of minutes performing vigorous exercise per day and body fat percentage (r = .29 for boys and r = .38 for girls; P < .05).
Dr. Dencker noted that 25% of children in the study were overweight. The slimmest boys exercised vigorously for 60 minutes daily, while their overweight counterparts exercised 12 fewer minutes per day, he said. The thinnest girls exercised vigorously for 50 minutes daily, while the more overweight girls exercised about 12 fewer minutes per day.
There is about a 15% variant in the children's weight that could be explained by physical exercise, Dr. Dencker said. Noting that "the lack of intense physical exercise is a contributing factor in childhood obesity," he warned that 50% of obese children become obese adults. "We need to set higher goals for physical activity in children," he said.
"Moving more and earlier will combat the epidemic of obesity in this country," said Sidney Smith, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Dr. Smith believes that moderate healthy activity should be encouraged, especially in the elderly. "Physical activity could aid in preventing heart disease, [and] children and adults need to develop more exercise skills." It is a matter of balancing one's caloric intake against performing the right kind of exercise, he said.
In another study presented at the meeting, Wisconsin researchers found that children who eat out frequently have higher cardiovascular risk factors than other children.
The study included 759 second-, fifth-, eighth-, and 11th-grade students who participated in the Wausau SCHOOL Project, a community-based organization to examine the development of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes in children. Data from exercise and diet surveys were available in 621 students. Body mass index (BMI), fasting plasma insulin levels, glucose levels, blood pressure, and nuclear magnetic resonance lipid profiles were also measured. Students were categorized into one of two groups: those who ate out four or more times per week and those who ate out less than four times per week.
The investigators found that 20% of the students ate out four or more times per week (not including the school cafeteria). This increased rate of eating out, however, was not associated with a higher rate of obesity, but it was associated with a significant difference in dietary intake of starch, cholesterol, fats, sugar, and sodium.
Compared with the group that ate out less often, those students who ate out four or more times per week were more sedentary (2.8 hours of sedentary activity/day vs 3.6 hours/day; P < .001), had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressures (107.0 vs 110.0 mm Hg and 66.0 vs 69.7 mm Hg; P < .01 and P < .001, respectively), lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (45 vs 47 mg/dL; P = .04), and larger low-density lipoprotein cholesterol size (21.5 vs 21.3 nm; P = .01).
At a press conference, David Murdock, MD, from the CaRE Foundation in Wausau, Wisconsin, stated that students who ate out increased their consumption of starch, cholesterol, fats, sugar, and sodium. In addition, students who ate out frequently doubled their consumption of carbonated beverages.
"Eating out frequently is related to adverse effects on cardiovascular risk factors," Dr. Murdock said. He and his colleagues believe that "longitudinal research is required to fully understand the implications of these early dietary patterns."
Stephen Daniel, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatric environmental health at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in Ohio, commented that eating out too frequently leads to changes in the diet that are unhealthy. "Families need to actively figure out the best way to develop a helpful diet for their children," he said. Dr. Daniel was not involved in the studies.
AHA 2005 Scientific Sessions: Abstracts 3653 and 3612. Presented Nov. 15, 2005.
Reviewed by Ariana Del Negro
Linda Little is a freelance writer for Medscape
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