Obesity Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Obesity, including details on health, diet, prevention, exercise. | ||||||||
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School-based fitness changes are lost during the summer vacation.Carrel AL, Clark RR, Peterson S, Eickhoff J, Allen DB Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital, 600 Highland Ave, Room H4-436, Madison, WI 53792, USA. alcarrel@wisc.edu OBJECTIVE: To determine the changes in percentage of body fat, cardiovascular fitness, and insulin levels during the 3-month summer break in overweight children enrolled in a school-based fitness program. STUDY DESIGN: Overweight middle-school children were randomized to a lifestyle-focused physical education class (treatment) or standard physical education class (control) for 1 school year (9 months; previously reported). This analysis reports changes during the 3-month summer break in children who participated in the fitness intervention group and who remained at this school the following year and repeated a fitness class. At the beginning and end of the school year, children underwent evaluation of (1) fasting levels of insulin and glucose, (2) body composition by means of dual x-ray absorptiometry, and (3) maximum oxygen consumption as determined by treadmill use. SETTING: Rural middle school and an academic children's hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Overweight middle-school children. INTERVENTION: School-based fitness curriculum, followed by summer break, and an additional year of school-based fitness intervention. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cardiovascular fitness test results (maximum oxygen consumption), body composition, and fasting insulin levels. RESULTS: Improvements seen during the 9-month school-year intervention in cardiovascular fitness, fasting insulin levels, and body composition were lost during the 3-month summer break. During this summer break, mean +/- SD fitness level decreased (maximum oxygen consumption, -3.2 +/- 1.9 mL/kg per minute; P = .007), fasting insulin level increased (+44 +/- 69 pmol/L [+6.1 +/- 9.7 mIU/mL]; P = .056), and percentage of body fat increased (+1.3% +/- 1.3%; P = .02) to levels that were similar to those seen before the school intervention. CONCLUSION: In obese middle-school children, school-based fitness interventions are an important vehicle for health promotion, but without sustained intervention, these benefits may be lost during the extended summer break. Published 5 June 2007 in Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, 161(6): 561-4.
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