Overweight and obese teenagers: why is adolescence a critical period?

Abstract

Summary This paper discusses the critical period of adolescence and its potential role in the development and persistence of obesity. The adolescent years are characteristic of changes in body composition (location and quantity of body fat), physical fitness and decreased insulin sensitivity during puberty. This period of growth and maturation is also marked with behavioural changes in diet, physical activity, sedentary behaviour and psychological health. Physical activity and sport participation decline during adolescence especially in teenage girls, while sedentary behaviour, risk for depression and body esteem issues increase during the teenage years. These physiological and behavioural changes during adolescence warrant the attention of health practitioners to prevent the onset and continuation of obesity throughout the lifespan.

It’s A-bout Time: Detailed Patterns of Physical Activity in Obese Adolescents Participating in a Lifestyle Intervention

“…3 Thus, interventions are needed to improve both physical activity and sedentary behavior, and adolescence has been identified as a critical period to intervene. 4 One such intervention was Curtin University's Activity, Food, and Attitudes Program (CAFAP), which was a community-based, family-centred lifestyle intervention focused on increasing physical activity and decreasing sedentary behavior and eating behaviors of overweight and obese adolescents. 5 Traditionally, physical activity intervention results have been reported as an overall change in physical activity (total, light, moderate-to-vigorous, and sedentary time) in response to an intervention.…”

Adolescents as agents of healthful change through scientific literacy development: A school-university partnership program in New Zealand

“…Overweight and obesity in adolescence is known to persist into adulthood and impact future health (Alberga et al 2012). Even if adolescence is significantly distanced from pregnancy, adolescent behaviors that track into adulthood will influence nutrition in the periconceptional period and during pregnancy, consequently influencing offspring vulnerability to obesity and related NCDs in later life .…”

Dietary and Activity Habits in Adolescents Living in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Specifically, the promotion of sensible eating and physical activity during adolescence may modify an adolescent's risk of adult obesity [2,21]. The aim of this study was to obtain information about pupils' dietary habits both when at school and more widely throughout the day after the introduction of the mandatory food policy.…”