Original article
Obese Adolescents Are Less Active Than Their Normal-Weight Peers, but Wherein Lies the Difference?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.06.010Get rights and content

Abstract

Background

Obese adolescents achieve less moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than normal-weight adolescents, but the nature and extent of the deficit is unclear. This study aimed to describe differences in MVPA across weight status categories by domain of activity (sport, play, and active transport) and specific activity-sets (e.g. team sports, playground games, and chores) using minutes of activity, estimated intensity, and estimated energy expenditure as metrics of MVPA.

Method

Anthropometric, use-of-time, and pedometer data were collected on a random sample of 2,200 Australian children aged 9–16 years. Minutes of activity, intensity metabolic equivalents of tasks (METs), and energy expenditure (MET.min) within each domain were estimated using an energy cost compendium.

Results

Obese adolescents reported 174 MET.min/d lower MVPA energy expenditure than normal-weight peers (p < .0001), more than accounting for the entire difference in total daily energy expenditure (154 MET.min/d). Of this difference, 121 MET.min/d was associated with lower sports participation (p < .0001) and 45 MET.min/d with less free play (p = .03). There were no differences in minutes of active transport or in reported activity intensity across weight status categories in sport, free play, or active transport. The differences in MVPA participation between obese and normal-weight adolescents were largely because of different levels of participation in team sports, cycling, partner sports (boys), and dancing (girls).

Conclusion

More than two-thirds of the difference in energy expenditure between obese and normal-weight Australian adolescents was because of lower participation in sport. Strategies for engaging obese adolescents in sport may help to redress deficits in energy expenditure.

Section snippets

Methods

The University of South Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee provided ethical approval for this study.

Weight status and EE

There were significant differences in estimated TDEE across weight status bands (p < .0001; Figure 1, Table 2), with obese adolescents expending 154 fewer MET.min/d than normal-weight adolescents. The TDEEs of obese adolescents were 6.4% lower than those of normal-weight adolescents. There were also significant differences across weight status categories in estimated EE associated with MVPA (p < .0001), with obese adolescents expending 174 fewer MET.min/d than normal-weight adolescents. The

Key findings

The key finding of this study was that adolescents' PAL varied with weight status. Weight status-related differences were partly because of different amounts of time devoted to MVPA, and partly because of different mixes in the types of activities constituting MVPA, with obese adolescents experiencing significantly less sport (which had a higher average intensity) and less active play. In obese adolescents, sport constituted 38% of TDEE, compared with 46% in their normal-weight peers. Virtually

Acknowledgments

This survey on which this study was based was supported by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing; the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; and by the Australian Food and Grocery Council.

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