No exercise tied to body fat in children
Source: Agencies |
January 17, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FOR children, time spent actually inactive, such as lying on the couch, appears to have less of an impact on how much body fat they have than a lack of exercise does, a US study says.
Researchers found that the more minutes children spent exercising at the pace of a fast walk each day, the lower their percentage of body fat. But the time they spent lying around made no difference.
"Our study supports the current physical activity guideline, that's what I want people to know," said Soyang Kwon, a pediatric researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago.
The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends that children and teens exercise at least at the intensity of a fast walk, about 5.6 kilometers per hour, for 60 minutes every day.
Last year, a study in adults found a different result: regular exercise doesn't protect against the dangers of sitting for many hours at desk jobs. This is likely because children are more active than adults overall.
"In adults, where the activity levels are generally less, the time spent sedentary may have more of an effect," said Russell Pate, who studies physical activity in children at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
Kwon and her colleagues from the University of Iowa used data from a study in that state that followed children of various ages from 2000 to 2009.
A group of 277 boys and 277 girls were measured at eight, 11, 13 and 15 years old for body composition and fat content.
Even among children who exercised the least, the amount of time sitting didn't make much of a difference.
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