The National After-School Athletics Program Participation as a Tool to Reduce the Risk of Obesity in Adolescents after One Year of Intervention: A Nationwide Study

Abstract

Regular exercise during school hours is encouraged; however many children and adolescents fail to meet the recommendations during this time. Extracurricular activities may be a more appealing way for youth to achieve guidelines, and it is recommended that they attend two sessions each week. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of participation in a national physical activity program accompanied by nutritional education for trainers on the risk of obesity and body composition in a nationwide sample of boys and girls, after one year of intervention. The #goathletics Study was conducted in a group of 1014 adolescents aged 12–13: 507 individuals for the Athletics for All program (210 boys, 297 girls) and 507 pair-matched individuals not participating in any physical activity program (matching including: gender, age, city of residence). The body mass (kg), Body Mass Index (BMI) (kg/m2), waist circumference (WC) (cm), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (-) and body composition (%) (measured using bioelectrical impedance method) were compared in a gender-related sub-groups using t-Student test (for parametric distributions) or Mann-Whitney U test (for nonparametric distributions) and chi2 test (for the share of sub-groups). After one year of intervention, lower body mass percentile, BMI percentile, WC, WHtR and fat mass share, higher muscle mass share, as well as lower frequency of overweight/obesity and abdominal fat distribution were observed both for boys and girls participating in the physical activity intervention compared to the pair-matched controls. The after-school physical activity program accompanied by nutritional education for trainers may be a highly effective method for reducing the risk of obesity both for boys and girls, as regular participation is ensured.

Mothers’ Vegetable Consumption Behaviors and Preferences as Factors Limiting the Possibility of Increasing Vegetable Consumption in Children in a National Sample of Polish and Romanian Respondents

“…The association between eating behaviors of mothers and their children that was observed in the conducted study is confirmed by the results of another Polish study, as a similar strong association between eating behaviors of mothers and their adolescent daughters was observed [37], and it also contributed to similar excessive body mass risk [38] and similarities in other health-related consequences [39]. This may be important, as an excessive body mass of children was commonly observed in a recent study of Polish adolescents [40]. However, a mother may also transfer her dislikes to her child and create their preferences similar to her own [41].…”

Effects of School-Based Exercise and Nutrition Intervention on Body Composition and Physical Fitness in Overweight Adolescent Girls

“…The change in the final test was statistically significant, and the percentage of the group of HIIT was 8.8% (moderate ES). The importance of intensity in improving physical aerobic performance was recently confirmed when obese children who did HIIT made remarkably good progress in aerobic capacity development compared to obese children who exercised free activities for six weeks [ 51 ] and after one year long intervention [ 24 ]. Similar results were also found in a recent study from Plavsic and colleagues [ 31 ].…”

“…The limitation of the mentioned study was the absence of adolescent girls. In a study with a longer duration (one year) [ 24 ], the extracurricular PA program significantly reduced the BMI, adiposity, and improved body composition of adolescents. A 2 week residential summer camp led to improved body weight, BMI, and self-esteem among obese children (9–14 years) [ 25 ].…”

Differences in Hyperactivity and Inattention between Adolescents Participating and Non-Participating in A National Polish After-School Athletics Program

“…The assessment of hyperactivity and inattention is challenging, as it is based on own declaration of adolescents, who may want to modify their answers to obtain typical results (as they may be interpreted by adolescent as a better situation). Moreover, the applied intervention, namely LDK program, was associated both with physical activity intervention and nutritional education, which may have contributed to better anthropometric parameters and reduced risk of excessive body mass, as it was observed [35]. However, in such intervention, in spite of the fact that physical activity was the main element, the potential influence of nutritional education may not be neglected.…”