Improvements in Fitness Reduce the Risk of Becoming Overweight across Puberty

Abstract

Our results suggest that improvements in fitness from childhood to adolescence are associated with a lower risk of becoming overweight/obese in adolescence. The current findings highlight the importance of promoting fitness through physical exercise from early stages in life, as a promising strategy to fight against overweight and obesity. Gender and country differences observed in this study require social and political attention.

Actividad física, condición física y sobrepeso en niños y adolescentes: evidencia procedente de estudios epidemiológicos

“…Con relación a la condición física, se ha observado que tener una capacidad aeróbica, expresada en consumo máximo de oxígeno, mayor de 42 ml/kg/min para niños y 35-37 ml/kg/min para niñas, se asocia con un menor riesgo de sobrepeso/obesidad y riesgo metabólico 23,57---59 . En este contexto, nuestro grupo ha estudiado a una cohorte de niños suecos y estonios desde los 9 años hasta los 15 años de edad (6 años de seguimiento) 60 . Se seleccionaron solo los niños con normopeso al inicio y se estudió qué factores hacían que los niños desarrollaran sobrepeso u obesidad 6 años después.…”

Physical fitness reference standards in European children: the IDEFICS study

“…1 Fitness has been considered a powerful marker of health, both, in childhood and in adulthood, 2 independent of physical activity. 3,4 A low fitness status during childhood and adolescence is associated with important health-related outcomes, such as increased future risk for obesity 5 and cardiovascular diseases, 6 impaired skeletal health, 7 reduced quality of life 8 and poor mental health. 9 In spite of the healthy benefits of a high fitness, children and adolescents performance in fitness tests has declined over the last three decades.…”

Systematic Review and Proposal of a Field-Based Physical Fitness-Test Battery in Preschool Children: The PREFIT Battery

“…Longitudinal studies have recently contributed to the existing evidence concerning physical fitness and health of youth. As an example, improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness have shown to reduce the risk of becoming overweight/obese across puberty [4]. Likewise, a recent cohort study conducted in more than 1 million Swedish individuals showed that a very low level of muscular strength in adolescence is associated with a higher risk of all-cause premature mortality (before 55 years of age), as well as premature mortality due to cardiovascular disease and suicide [5].…”