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Walking not running helps burn fat in children
A new study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &
Metabolism suggests that walking speed does not cause fat oxidation,
otherwise known as “fat burning,” to speed up among a group of
overweight boys between the ages of 9 and 11.
The study showed that the highest fat and carbohydrate burning occurred
at a walking speed of about 2.5 miles per hour. Researchers say that a
moderately intense exercise program may be recommended to overweight
children as a feasible way to treat childhood obesity.
In the study, researchers compared fat burning rates at different
walking speeds among 24 overweight boys with an average body mass index
(BMI, a measure of weight in relation to height) of 25.5.
The maximum fat burning rate was found at a moderate walking speed of
about 2.5 miles per hour (4 kilometers/hour). Increasing the walking
speed to 5 kilometers/hour or 6 kilometers/hour did not substantially
increase the fat burning rate.
Although the boys burned more carbohydrates when they increased their
walking speed, researchers found the moderate walking pace promoted the
highest fat to carbohydrate burning ratio, which is recommended for
weight loss.
They added that obesity causes the body to get energy from other sources
rather than fat, which causes fat to build up. But exercise stimulates
fat burning and helps promote weight loss.
Hence it may be more reasonable to prescribe and encourage low-
intensity exercise, which is more feasible and acceptable to obese
children, than to insist on more intense exercise programs that may not
provide any additional fat-burning benefits.
18 January 2005
Source
Sleep apnea linked with problem behavior in
children
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), ranging from snoring to obstructive
sleep apnea, is associated with a higher prevalence of behavioral
problems in children, researchers report in the December issue of
Pediatrics.
“Although many studies have reported increased behavioral problems in
clinical samples of children referred for suspected SDB, those studies
could be biased by an over-referral of children with behavioral
problems,” lead investigator Dr. Carol L. Rosen told Reuters Health.
To avoid this potential problem, Dr. Rosen and colleagues at the Case
Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio,
conducted a community-based cross-sectional survey involving 829
children ages 8 to 11 years old.
SDB was defined either by parental-reported habitual snoring or by
objective measures of sleep apnea obtained by overnight monitoring. Two
well-validated scales were used to obtain parental ratings of behavior.
Overall 5% of children were classified as having sleep apnea, 15% had
snoring without sleep apnea and the remaining 80% had neither condition.
Children with SDB were significantly more likely to show a higher
prevalence of problems, including emotional lability, hyperactivity,
aggressive behavior and social problems.
“Finding this relationship in a non-clinical, non-referred
community-based sample of children strengthens the relationship between
SDB and behavioral problems,” Dr. Rosen noted.
However, she concluded, “well-controlled studies looking at the
reversibility of behavioral problems with treatment of SDB are needed to
answer the question of causality.”
David Douglas
Source: Pediatrics 2004;114:1640-1648.
10 January 2005
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