Activity, Dietary Intake, and Weight Changes in a Longitudinal Study of Preadolescent and Adolescent Boys and Girls

Abstract

For both boys and girls, a 1-year increase in BMI was larger in those who reported more time with TV/videos/games during the year between the 2 BMI measurements, and in those who reported that their caloric intakes increased more from 1 year to the next. Larger year-to-year increases in BMI were also seen among girls who reported higher caloric intakes and less physical activity during the year between the 2 BMI measurements. Although the magnitudes of these estimated effects were small, their cumulative effects, year after year during adolescence, would produce substantial gains in body weight. Strategies to prevent excessive caloric intakes, to decrease time with TV/videos/games, and to increase physical activity would be promising as a means to prevent obesity.

Child overweight in France and its relationship with physical activity, sedentary behaviour and socioeconomic status

“…This result is consistent with a growing body of evidence that, among children and adolescents, inactivity (particularly watching TV) is associated with body fatness in cross-sectional (Andersen et al, 1998;Hernandez et al, 1999;Tremblay and Willms, 2003), longitudinal (Maffeis et al, 1998;Berkey et al, 2000) and intervention studies Robinson, 1999). Obesity in children has even been reported to correlate in a dosedependent manner with baseline daily duration of television viewing in longitudinal observations (Dietz and Gortmaker, 1985;Gortmaker et al, 1996), suggesting a cause-effect relationship.…”

“…The absence of a significant relationship between physical activity and OW found in the preadolescent and adolescent groups is only partially shared in the literature. Crosssectional and longitudinal studies are roughly divided between finding no effect (McMurray et al, 1995;Goran et al, 1997;Maffeis et al, 1998;Kimm et al, 2001), or a protective effect of activity (Moore et al, 1995;Hernandez et al, 1999;Berkey et al, 2000;O'Loughlin et al, 2000;Tremblay and Willms, 2003;Janssen et al, 2005).…”

Physical activity and sedentary behavior: a review of longitudinal studies of weight and adiposity in youth

“…Only five of the studies used objective measures of physical activity. 35,48,[65][66][67] The others relied on self-reported measures, either by the children themselves, 61,[68][69][70][71] by their parents, [72][73][74][75][76][77] or by a combination thereof. 78 In the Framingham Children's Study, children wore accelerometers for up to 5 days twice per year.…”

Physical activity, television viewing and body mass index: a cross-sectional analysis from childhood to adulthood in the 1958 British cohort

“…For example, Finnish adolescents who were consistently active over 6 y, had a similar mean BMI to their peers who were consistently active, but they had lower subscapular skinfold thicknesses, 7 providing some support for the hypothesis that BMI may not be the best measure for fatness at this life stage. However, in the literature overall, relationships between fatness and physical activity in adolescents are inconsistent, irrespective of whether BMI or some 'better' measure of body fat is used, 29,30 suggesting that the method of measuring body fat is not the only influencing factor.…”

“…However, longitudinal studies report less consistent results. 29,30,37 BMI and physical activity and television viewing In models investigating the simultaneous effects of physical activity and television viewing on BMI (ie adjusting each for the other) in 11-year-old girls, both television and physical activity were independent predictors of BMI, and the two variables themselves were unrelated. In female subjects at 23 y, the coefficient for physical activity was reduced, as was the coefficient for television viewing but to a lesser extent.…”