 Exercise less able to help fat loss than diet in children
Source: Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent for Telegraph U.K. Date: 5/27/08
Encouraging overweight children to exercise has no impact on weight loss and they should be encouraged instead to eat more healthily, according to new research.
The study claims that obese children are inactive because of their weight,
and not fat because they are inactive.
The
researchers argue that efforts to reduce the childhood obesity epidemic
should focus on healthy eating and cutting calorie consumption, rather
than getting children to engage in sports and games.
The research, presented at the European Congress on Obesity, studied 300 children over five years.
It
found that being overweight influences activity more than activity
influences being overweight, and argues that this is why attempts to
promote physical activity as a way of combating childhood obesity have
failed.
Overweight
children find it more difficult to exercise because they run out of
breath, so they are more inactive than slimmer counterparts.
The focus of prevention should shift to controlling calorie intake, says the study.
Brad
Metcalf, who led the research at the Peninsula Medical School in
Plymouth, said: "Our explanation is that fat kids are inactive because
they are fat and not fat because they are inactive. They find it hard
to exercise because they run out of breath, and so they don't.
"It is getting them to make sure they do not acquire fats through other means in the first place.
"They will lose more weight through healthy, lifelong changes to their diet than physical activity.
"The
most cost-effective way of easing the problem would be to put all the
money into getting kids to stop eating junk food rather than splitting
it between that and getting them active.
"It is tempting to make kids more active but it doesn't produce the expected results.
"In
France, they have taken out vending machines from schools and banned
students taking in chocolate bars in their packed lunch. They have also
banned adverts for junk food on TV during children's programmes and
they are seeing it is making a difference."
Copyright 2007. All Rights Reserved.  |
Subscribe to this comment's feed