Lifestyle Practices and Obesity in Malaysian Adolescents

Abstract

Aim: To determine the influence of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) on obesity profiles of 454 Malaysian adolescents aged 12 to 19. Methods: Validated PA and SB questionnaires were used and body composition assessed using anthropometry and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Results: Gender-specific multivariate analyses showed boys with high levels of total PA and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) exhibited significantly lower levels of total body fat, percent body fat and android fat mass compared with low PA and MVPA groups, after adjusting for potential confounders. Girls with high SB levels showed significantly higher BMI, waist circumference and DXA-derived body fat indices than those at lower SB level. Multiple logistic analyses indicated that boys with low levels of total PA and MVPA had significantly greater obesity risk, 3.0 (OR 3.0; 95% CI, 1.1–8.1; p < 0.05) and 3.8-fold (OR 3.8; 95% CI, 1.4–10.1; p < 0.01), respectively, than more active boys. Only in girls with high SB level was there a significantly increased risk of obesity, 2.9 times higher than girls at low SP levels (OR 2.8; 95% CI, 1.0–7.5; p < 0.05). Conclusions: The present findings indicate that higher PA duration and intensity reduced body fat and obesity risk while high screen-based sedentary behaviors significantly adversely influenced body fat mass, particularly amongst girls when the PA level was low.

Physical activity level has a great influence on the nutritional status of adolescents: a review article

“…It is important to note that the active subjects had lower percentage of FM (%FM) and that %FM was held on the same level during the period of 40 months, while these values increased in inactive subjects [36]. In other studies, similar results were achieved after a certain period of follow up [27,28,34,43,44,46].…”

“…Cross-sectional data revealed meaningful differences in PAL between sexes: boys practised more PA per day [29,31,41,43,46]. However, Guilherme et al [39] failed to show the same trends.…”

“…In several studies, race or ethnicity of the responders was listed as a categorical variable [29,32,33,35,38,43,44,46]. The direct relationship between race and PAL was investigated in only one study [32], where it was concluded that there was a difference in PAL in relation to ethnicity, i.e.…”

“…Moreover, the presence of TV in the room is bound with elevated cardiometabolic risk (ECMR) (OR = 2.9) and high values of triglycerides (OR = 2.0) [40]. The risk of obesity was specifically tested in four studies, which indicated that less physically active children were more likely to become obese in adolescence [29,39,46,47].…”

Ethnic Differences in the Food Intake Patterns and Its Association Factors of Adolescents in Malaysia

“…Details of the methodology protocols of this study have been published elsewhere [13,14]. In brief, a pre-piloted self-administered questionnaire was used to assess general characteristics, socioeconomic and demographical characteristics, and dietary behaviours of the participants.…”