An 11-year study of more than 200 children in Plymouth that gaining weight makes them inactive.
The paper, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, concludes that programmes to tackle obesity may need to focus more on food than just exercise.
Some experts have gone on to challenge these findings - the paper says there is no disputing the association between physical activity and body fat. And there is no suggestion that exercise is not good for children. But it does question its value as a way of tackling obesity.
This tells us that the study shouldn’t be interpreted at face value. Reasons for inactivity really are a case by case basis.
Dr David Haslam National Obesity Forum
The researchers at the EarlyBird Diabetes Study, based at the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, has been following a group of more than 200 city school children for the past 11 years.
As part of the long-term study, they monitored body fat and exercise at regular intervals over three years.
They found no indication that doing more physical activity had any effect on weight, but they did find that children who put on weight did relatively less exercise.
The findings indicate that 10% more body fat in a seven-year-old leads to four minutes less moderate or vigorous exercise each day. The lead author, Professor Terry Wilkin, says this may not sound a lot, but it adds up over time.
The paper suggests that overweight children may perceive their body image negatively, and as a result choose not to join in sports and exercise. It also argues that children who put on too much weight may suffer discomfort and pain during exercise more quickly.
Professor Wilkin says the policy implications are far-reaching, indicating that nutrition, rather than ever-increasing doses of physical activity, is the key to tackling childhood obesity.
However many experts believe that exercise does have a role to play in helping children to lose weight. Professor Andy Ness from Bristol University, who has also examined activity and obesity in children, says the EarlyBird findings are "partly right".
Read the full story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10545542.stm
Source and thanks to www.news.bbc.co.uk.
Nigel Denby comments- doesn't this sort of research distract us from the main issue- Our children are too fat! It all seems a bit like a chicken and egg scenario to me, worrying about whether kids who take four minutes exercise less a day do it because they are fat- or whether it's because they are fat they exercise less?????
We pour so much money into research- and we ned evidence to help us plan interventions, but we really do know that children and adults who are fat need to eat less and exercise more- so why don't we use funds to help make that happen!
