Associations between objectively assessed physical activity and indicators of body fatness in 9- to 10-y-old European children: a population-based study from 4 distinct regions in Europe (the European Youth Heart Study)

Abstract

The accumulated amount of time spent at moderate and vigorous PA is related to body fatness in children, but this relation is weak; the explained variance was <1%.

Association of objectively assessed physical activity with total and central body fat in Spanish adolescents; The HELENA Study

“…It should also be acknowledged that there is poor to moderate agreement between accelerometry and energy expenditure, and that the Actigraph has poor validity against indirect calorimetry and double-labelled water, especially in young Physical activity and body composition D Moliner-Urdiales et al children, 45 whereas less evidence exist for adolescents. It should be mentioned that the cutoff points used in this study to define physical activity intensities are similar to those used in previous studies, 16,31,32 and that seem to be useful and valid for estimating participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity in children and adolescents, particularly time spent in vigorous physical activity. 46,47 Furthermore, it seems that among the commercially available accelerometers, the one used in this study (Actigraph MTI, model GT1M) showed the best correlation with doubly labelled water derived energy expenditure.…”

“…The inverse relationship between objectively assessed PA and body fat agree with previous studies. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Lohman et al 6 reported a significant association of total body fat assessed by anthropometry with MVPA and vigorous PA. Wittmeier et al 3 investigated 251 Canadian children aged 8-11 years and observed that time spent in MVPA was inversely correlated with body mass index and a skinfold-derived Abbreviations: MVPA, moderate and vigorous physical activity; PA, physical activity. All variables were log transformed, except light and moderate PA.…”

“…The cutoffs to define the intensity categories are similar to those used in previous studies. 16,31,32 Each minute over the specific cutoff was summarized in the corresponding intensity level group.…”

“…There is compelling evidence that objectively assessed physical activity (PA) is negatively associated with markers of total [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and central body fat, 8,[11][12][13][14] in children and adolescents, 15 but with contradictory results. 16,17 Most of the epidemiological studies used anthropometry to assess body composition because it is the most feasible method when large samples need to be assessed.…”

Sedentary behaviors, physical activity behaviors, and body fat in 6-year-old children: the Generation R Study

“…Furthermore, earlier studies have been inconsistent in adjusting for dietary behaviors known to affect childhood overweight, such as consumption of breakfast and sugar-sweetened beverages [12-14,16]. Therefore, confounding by these factors cannot be ruled out.…”