Exercise Training Improved Body Composition, Cardiovascular Function, and Physical Fitness of 5-Year-Old Children With Obesity or Normal Body Mass

Abstract

Objectives:To explore the effects of exercise training on body composition, cardiovascular function, and physical fitness in 5-year-old obese and lean children. Methods: 42 obese and 62 lean children were randomly allocated into exercise and control groups separately. Body composition, cardiovascular function, and physical fitness were measured at baseline and the end of the intervention. The exercise groups participated in 10 weeks of supervised moderate intensity exercise training (at 50% of heart rate reserve), 50 training sessions in total. Results: The physical activity program was successfully completed and no sport injury occurred. Exercise training decreased BMI, waist circumference, body fat%, and fat mass; and slowed down the growth speed of body mass of both trained obese and lean children. Exercise training significantly decreased systolic blood pressure of obese children and decreased their heart rate responses during exercise. Trained obese children improved the performances of long jump, 10-m × 4 shuttle run, and 3-m balance beam walk; while trained lean children improved more items of physical fitness. Conclusions: 10 weeks of moderate intensity exercise training is an effective and safe treatment for children aged 5 years, either obese or with normal body mass.Keywords: childhood obesity, exercise, cardiovascular function, physical fitness Children obesity is a serious health problem (18,19).1 Negative impacts of obesity on health-related physical fitness, such as cardiovascular function, muscle strength, and flexibility, have been reported in children aged 3-6 years (17,20). The common treatments of obesity are diet, exercise, pharmacotherapy, and surgery (18,27). Diet is not suitable to young children as their bodies are at the fast growth period and sufficient nutrition must be guaranteed (26). Pharmacologic and surgical treatments should not be introduced carelessly in young children whose obesity is only caused by a positive energy balance from overeating and/or physical inactivity. Thus, exercise training has been applied as the first choice for children who are overweight or obese, but not morbidly obese caused by underlying pathologies (16). Previous studies have reported that exercise training in children with obesity improves their body composition (10,28), cardiovascular function (4,7), and physical fitness (12,13,29). However, there are few studies of the effects of exercise training in obese children aged 5 years. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of exercise training in obese and lean children aged 5 years. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of obesity on cardiovascular function and physical fitness in children aged 5 years, by comparing baseline data between obese and lean children. The first hypothesis was that obesity would adversely affect cardiovascular function and physical fitness in children as young as 5 years old. Further, we studied the effects of 10 weeks of moderate intensity exercise training on body composition, cardiovascular funct...

School-Based Exercise Programs and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors: A Meta-analysis

“…The program durations ranged from 8 weeks to 3 years, and the frequencies ranged between 2 sessions per day and 1 session monthly. The intensity of the PA sessions was not reported in 4 of the 19 studies 29 -31, 34 ; the intensity was moderate in 5 of the remaining studies, 21,22,32,36,37 vigorous in 4 studies, 23,24,27,28 and moderate to vigorous in 6 studies. 20,25,26,33,35,38 The type of exercises developed in the PA programs included aerobic and mostly noncompetitive activities, such as running, jumping, rope skipping, dancing, climbing, and ball games, to improve aerobic capacity, coordination, flexibility, strength, and speed.…”

“…All studies were school based and included boys and girls. The participants in 2 articles 21,31 were preschool-aged children (3-5 years old; n = 675), and the remaining participants were schoolchildren (6-12 years old; n = 11 313).…”

Effects of Living High-Training Low and High on Body Composition and Metabolic Risk Markers in Overweight and Obese Females

“…e training intensity corresponded to a 20-40% heart rate reserve (HRR), which was determined by the Karvonen equation [29]. HRR has been used to control exercise intensity in several researches on obesity [30][31][32]. 40% HRR could be corresponding to about 30% VO 2max [33].…”

Effects of a 24 Week Multifaceted Sports Training Program on Some Physical Characteristics of 5 to 9 Year-Old Children

“…Applying a diet to children so that making them lose weight in this way is not very useful method. For this reason, more physical activity should be emphasized (Tan, Chen, Sui, Xue, & Wang, 2017). However, no matter how much physical activity is used as a measure against obesity, the exercises to be applied for children should not be considered only as a way of prevention from obesity (Weiss & Raz, 2006).…”