Light exercise could be the key to reversing childhood obesity

Increased sedentary time as a child through adolescence is directly linked to childhood obesity, but new research has found light physical activity may completely reverse the adverse process.

The study – conducted in collaboration with between University of Exeter, University of Eastern Finland, University of Bristol, and University of Colorado and published in Nature Communications – is the largest and longest follow-up to objectively measure physical activity and fat mass, using the University of Bristol’s Children of the 90s data (also known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children). The study included 6,059 children (53 percent female) aged 11 years who were followed up until the age of 24.

Recent reports concluded that more than 80 percent of adolescents across the globe do not meet the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended average of 60 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. It is estimated that physical inactivity will have caused 500 million new cases of heart disease, obesity, diabetes, or other noncommunicable diseases by 2030, costing £21-million annually. This alarming forecast regarding the morbid danger of physical inactivity necessitates urgent research on the most effective preventive approach.

Yet results from this new study shows that moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is up to ten times less effective than light physical activity in decreasing overall gain in fat mass.

Dr Andrew Agbaje of the University of Exeter led the study and said: “These new findings strongly emphasise that light physical activity may be an unsung hero in preventing fat mass obesity from early life. It is about time the world replaced the mantra of ‘an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity’ with ‘at least three hours a day of light physical activity’. Light physical activity appears to be the antidote to the catastrophic effect of sedentary time in the young population.”