Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
energy intake or a decrease in energy expenditure (EE) or both ( Hills,
Andersen, & Byrne, 2011 ). In this context, physical activity (PA), which
accounts for a part of human EE, has long been recognized as one of the
important factors that can be modified for obesity prevention in young peo-
ple ( Dulloo, 2010; Stankov, Olds, & Cargo, 2012 ) . PA has been shown to
dramatically decline from childhood to adolescence ( Bradley, McRitchie,
Houts, Nader, & O'Brien, 2011; Troiano et al., 2008; Tudor-Locke
et al., 2011 ), and physical inactivity or low levels of PA has been associated
with the rising prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents
( Jimenez-Pavon, Kelly, & Reilly, 2010 ). In addition, obese children
( PlaninĖ‡ec & Matejek, 2004 ) and adolescents ( Ekelund et al., 2002; Olds,
Ferrar, Schranz, & Maher, 2011 ) are usually less physically active than their
normal weight counterparts, and the reduced PA has accounted for more
than two-thirds of the difference in EE between these two groups of indi-
viduals ( Olds et al., 2011 ).
Conversely, Li, Treuth, and Wang (2010) found that there was no
evidence of declining PA among adolescents, despite the continued rise in
the obesity prevalence of this population. Wilks, Besson, Lindroos, and
Ekelund (2011) further concluded in a prospective study that PA was not
strongly related to an excessive gain in adiposity among younger and older
populations. These findings suggest that physical inactivitymay not be themajor
contributor to the development of obesity among children and adolescents.
Although the relationship between PA and obesity is yet to be fully understood,
available evidence supports that increasing PA participation and decreasing
sedentary behavior (particularly television viewing) should be the focus when
planning obesity prevention programs for children and adolescents ( Boone,
Gordon-Larsen, Adair, &Popkin, 2007; Hills et al., 2011; Stankov et al., 2012 ).
In addition to PA, much attention has been given to studies investigating
the link between physical fitness (PF) and obesity, given that the fitness levels
among children and adolescents are declining ( Carter & Micheli, 2013;
Lobstein, Baur, Uauy, & International Obesity Task Force, 2004 ). Numer-
ous cross-sectional studies have found that an increased body mass index
(BMI) status was associated with declines in PF ( Aires et al., 2008;
Dumith et al., 2010 ) , and overweight and obese children and adolescents
tended to perform worse on fitness tests compared to their normal weight
peers ( Chen, Fox, Haase, & Wang, 2006; Mak et al., 2010 ). A large
population-based survey in the Republic of Seychelles (African region) also
found a strong inverse relationship between fitness and excess body weight
in adolescents ( Bovet, Auguste, & Burdette, 2007 ) . A review by Ortega,
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