Multi-component behaviour-changing interventions that incorporate diet, physical activity and behaviour change may be beneficial in achieving small, short-term reductions in BMI, BMI z score and weight in children aged 6 to 11 years. The evidence suggests a very low occurrence of adverse events. The quality of the evidence was low or very low. The heterogeneity observed across all outcomes was not explained by subgrouping. Further research is required of behaviour-changing interventions in lower income countries and in children from different ethnic groups; also on the impact of behaviour-changing interventions on health-related quality of life and comorbidities. The sustainability of reduction in BMI/BMI z score and weight is a key consideration and there is a need for longer-term follow-up and further research on the most appropriate forms of post-intervention maintenance in order to ensure intervention benefits are sustained over the longer term.

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Physical fitness (PF) is a construct of health‐ and skill‐related attributes which have been associated with academic performance (AP) in youth. This study aimed to review the scientific evidence on the association among components of PF and AP in children and adolescents. A systematic review of articles using databases PubMed/Medline, ERIC, LILACS, SciELO, and Web of Science was undertaken. Cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies examining the association between at least one component of PF and AP in children and adolescents, published between 1990 and June 2016, were included. Independent extraction of articles was carried out by the two authors using predefined data fields. From a total of 45 studies included, 25 report a positive association between components of PF with AP and 20 describe a single association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and AP. According to the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines: 12 were classified as low, 32 as medium risk, and 1 as high risk of bias. Thirty‐one studies reported a positive association between AP and CRF, six studies with muscular strength, three studies with flexibility, and seven studies reported a positive association between clustered of PF components and AP. The magnitude of the associations is weak to moderate (β = 0.10–0.42 and odds = 1.01–4.14). There is strong evidence for a positive association between CRF and cluster of PF with AP in cross‐sectional studies; and evidence from longitudinal studies for a positive association between cluster of PF and AP; the relationship between muscular strength and flexibility with AP remains uncertain.

Intermittent energy restriction may be an effective strategy for the treatment of overweight and obesity. Intermittent energy restriction was comparable to continuous energy restriction for short term weight loss in overweight and obese adults. Intermittent energy restriction was shown to be more effective than no treatment, however, this should be interpreted cautiously due to the small number of studies and future research is warranted to confirm the findings of this review.

Children and adolescents with overweight and obesity are a global health concern. This is an integrative overview of six Cochrane systematic reviews, providing an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence examining interventions for the treatment of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. The data extraction and quality assessments for each review were conducted by one author and checked by a second. The six high quality reviews provide evidence on the effectiveness of behaviour changing interventions conducted in children <6 years (7 trials), 6-11 years (70 trials), adolescents 12-17 years (44 trials) and interventions that target only parents of children aged 5-11 years (20 trials); in addition to interventions examining surgery (1 trial) and drugs (21 trials). Most of the evidence was derived from high-income countries and published in the last two decades. Collectively, the evidence suggests that multi-component behaviour changing interventions may be beneficial in achieving small reductions in body weight status in children of all ages, with low adverse event occurrence were reported. More research is required to understand which specific intervention components are most effective and in whom, and how best to maintain intervention effects. Evidence from surgical and drug interventions was too limited to make inferences about use and safety, and adverse events were a serious consideration.

Muticomponent interventions appear to be an effective treatment option for overweight or obese preschool children up to the age of 6 years. However, the current evidence is limited, and most trials had a high risk of bias. Most trials did not measure adverse events. We have identified four ongoing trials that we will include in future updates of this review.The role of dietary interventions is more equivocal, with one trial suggesting that dairy interventions may be effective in the longer term, but not energy-restricted diets. This trial also had a high risk of bias.

BackgroundLow-volume high-intensity interval training holds promise for cardiometabolic health promotion in adolescents, but sustainable interventions must be practical and engaging. We examined the effect of a school-based multi-activity low-volume high-intensity interval training intervention on adolescents’ cardiometabolic health.MethodsIn an exploratory controlled before-and-after design, 101 adolescents (mean age ± standard deviation [SD] 14.0 ± 0.3 years) were recruited from four schools; two were designated as intervention sites (n = 41), and two as control (n = 60). The intervention comprised 4 to 7 repetitions of 45 s maximal effort exercise (basketball, boxing, dance and soccer drills) interspersed with 90-s rest, thrice weekly for 10 weeks. Outcomes were non-fasting blood lipids and glucose, waist circumference, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, resting blood pressure, physical activity, twenty-metre shuttle-run test performance and carotid artery intima-media thickness. The difference in the change from baseline (intervention minus control) was estimated for each outcome. Using magnitude-based inferences, we calculated the probability that the true population effect was beneficial, trivial, and harmful against a threshold for the minimum clinically important difference of 0.2 between-subject SDs.Results and DiscussionMean (± SD) attendance for the intervention (expressed as percentage of available intervention sessions [n = 30]) was 77 ± 13%. Post-intervention, there were likely beneficial effects for triglycerides (-26%; 90% confidence interval -46% to 0%), waist circumference (-3.9 cm; -6.1 cm to -1.6 cm) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (+16 min; -5 to 38 min), and a possibly beneficial effect for twenty-metre shuttle-run test performance (+5 shuttles; -1 to 11 shuttles) in intervention participants (vs controls). The role of elevated triglycerides and waist circumference in cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome development underlines the importance of our findings. We also demonstrated that school-based low-volume high-intensity interval training can be delivered as intended, thus representing a novel and scalable means of improving aspects of adolescents’ cardiometabolic health.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02626767

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the kinetics, kinematics and muscle activity in runners with Achilles tendinopathy. Design: Case-control study.