The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that youths with obesity, when removed from structured school activities and confined to their homes during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, will display unfavorable trends in lifestyle behaviors. Methods: The sample included 41 children and adolescents with obesity participating in a longitudinal observational study located in Verona, Italy. Lifestyle information including diet, activity, and sleep behaviors was collected at baseline and 3 weeks into the national lockdown during which home confinement was mandatory. Changes in outcomes over the two study time points were evaluated for significance using paired t tests. Results: There were no changes in reported vegetable intake; fruit intake increased (P = 0.055) during the lockdown. By contrast, potato chip, red meat, and sugary drink intakes increased significantly during the lockdown (P value range, 0.005 to < 0.001). Time spent in sports activities decreased by 2.30 (SD 4.60) h/wk (P = 0.003), and sleep time increased by 0.65 (SD 1.29) h/d (P = 0.003). Screen time increased by 4.85 (SD 2.40) h/d (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Recognizing these adverse collateral effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic lockdown is critical in avoiding depreciation of weight control efforts among youths afflicted with excess adiposity. Depending on duration, these untoward lockdown effects may have a lasting impact on a child's or adolescent's adult adiposity level.

The emerging obesity epidemic and accompanying health consequences led The Obesity Society (TOS) in 2008 to publish a position paper defining obesity as a disease. Since then, new information has emerged on the underlying mechanisms leading to excess adiposity and the associated structural, cardiometabolic, and functional disturbances. This report presents the updated TOS 2018 position statement on obesity as a noncommunicable chronic disease.

We developed sex- and BMI-specific reference curves to harmonize the classification of body-composition phenotypes. The application of this classification will be particularly useful in the identification of cases of sarcopenic obesity. The association of these phenotypes with metabolic deregulation and increased disease risk awaits verification.

Anthropometry, Greek for human measurement, is a tool widely used across many scientific disciplines. Clinical nutrition applications include phenotyping subjects across the lifespan for assessing growth, body composition, response to treatments, and predicting health risks. The simple anthropometric tools such as flexible measuring tapes and calipers are now being supplanted by rapidly developing digital technology devices. These systems take many forms, but excitement today surrounds the introduction of relatively low cost three-dimensional optical imaging methods that can be used in research, clinical, and even home settings. This review examines this transformative technology, providing an overview of device operational details, early validation studies, and potential applications. Digital anthropometry is rapidly transforming dormant and static areas of clinical nutrition science with many new applications and research opportunities.

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Humans expend energy at rest (REE), and this major energy exchange component is now usually estimated using statistical equations that include weight and other predictor variables. While these formulas are useful in evaluating an individual's or group's REE, an important gap remains: available statistical models are inadequate for explaining underlying organ-specific and tissue-specific mechanisms accounting for resting heat production. The lack of such systems level REE prediction models leaves many research questions unanswered. A potential approach that can fill this gap began with investigators who first showed in animals and later in humans that REE reflects the summated heat production rates of individual organs and tissues. Today, using advanced imaging technologies, REE can be accurately estimated from the measured in vivo mass of 10 organ-tissue mass components combined with their respective mass-specific metabolic rates. This review examines the next frontier of energy expenditure models and discusses how organ-tissue models have the potential not only to better predict REE but also to provide insights into how perturbations in organ mass lead to structure-function changes across other interacting organ systems. The introductory ideas advanced in this review provide a framework for future human energy expenditure modelling research.

SummaryAccurate measurement of body composition is required to improve health outcomes in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. This systematic review aimed to summarize the reliability and validity of field and laboratory body composition techniques employed in pediatric obesity studies to facilitate technique selection for research and clinical practice implementation. A systematic search in MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus from inception up to December 2019 was conducted, using a combination of the following concepts: body composition, pediatric overweight/obesity, and reliability/validity. The search strategy resulted in 66 eligible articles reporting reliability (19.7%), agreement between body composition techniques cross sectionally (80.3%), and/or diagnostic test accuracy (10.6%) in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity (mean age range = 7.0–16.5 years). Skinfolds, air‐displacement plethysmography (ADP), dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA), and ultrasound presented as reliable techniques. DXA, ADP, and isotope dilution showed similar and the best agreement with reference standards. Compared with these laboratory techniques, the validity of estimating body composition by anthropometric equations, skinfolds, and BIA was inferior. In conclusion, the assessment of body composition by laboratory techniques cannot be replaced by field techniques due to introduction of measurement errors, which potentially conceal actual changes in body components.

Objective This study aimed to explore the accuracy and precision of three‐dimensional optical (3DO) whole‐body scanning for automated anthropometry and estimating total and regional body composition. Methods Healthy children and adolescents (n = 181, ages 5‐17 years) were recruited for the Shape Up! Kids study. Each participant underwent whole‐body dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry and 3DO scans; multisite conventional tape measurements served as the anthropometric criterion measure. 3DO body shape was described using automated body circumference, length, and volume measures. 3DO estimates were compared with criterion measures using simple linear regression by the stepwise selection method. Results Of the 181 participants, 112 were used for the training set, 49 were used for the test set, and 20 were excluded for technical reasons. 3DO body composition estimates were strongly associated with dual‐energy x‐ray absorptiometry measures for percent body fat, fat mass, and fat‐free mass (R2: 0.83, 0.96, and 0.98, respectively). 3DO provided reliable measurements of fat mass (coefficient of variation, 3.30; root mean square error [RMSE], 0.53), fat‐free mass (coefficient of variation, 1.34; RMSE, 0.53 kg), and percent body fat (RMSE = 1.2%). Conclusions 3DO surface scanning provides accurate and precise anthropometric and body composition estimates in children and adolescents with high precision. 3DO is a safe, accessible, and practical method for evaluating body shape and composition in research and clinical settings.