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More exercise does nothing to stop obesity in youngsters, study finds
Extra play and less TV are not enough, results show
Heart Foundation insists active childhood still vital
Sarah Boseley, health editor
The Guardian
Giving young children more physical exercise does not stop them becoming obese, a new study has shown.
The findings of researchers in Glasgow from their work with more than 500 four-year-olds run counter to the assumption that in an age dominated by television and computer games, children could slough off the pounds if they climbed more trees.
The study, published in the British Medical Journal this week, was led by John Reilly, a professor in paediatric energy metabolism at Glasgow University. His team set out to establish whether greater physical activity would prevent children from becoming overweight. They recruited 545 children in their last year at 36 nursery schools.
Half the schools instituted three extra half-hour sessions of physical play and activity every week, and parents were given information packs encouraging them to give their children more activity and less television. The other half had no extra activity or information.
All the children were regularly weighed and measured and their body mass index (BMI – the relationship between weight and height used to check for obesity) was calculated, and there was no difference between the groups.”
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