Physical fitnnes, fat distribution and health in school-age children (7 to 12 years) (Condición física, distribucion grasa y salud en escolares aragoneses (7 a 12 años))

La condición física, adiposidad y distribución grasa observadas en la infancia, han mostrado tener relación con la salud cardiovascular en la edad adulta. Objetivo: evaluar el nivel de condición física en escolares de 7 a 12 años y su relación con niveles saludables de condición aeróbica y distribución grasa. Se valoraron 1068 niños y niñas aragoneses de 7-12 años de edad. Se evaluó la condición física con la batería Eurofit y el grado de adiposidad y distribución grasa mediante antropometría. Se obtienen valores normativos de condición física. Un 9,1% de los chicos y 4,8% de las chicas presenta riesgo fututo de salud sobre la base de su condición aeróbica. Mejor condición aeróbica se asocia con cantidades significativamente menores de grasa subcutánea total y en el tronco. Es importante incorporar la evaluación del nivel de condición física y distribución grasa en la valoración del riesgo de salud desde edades tempranas

Correlates of ideal cardiovascular health in European adolescents: The HELENA study

Background and aims: The ideal cardiovascular health (iCVH) construct consists of 4 health behaviors (smoking status, body mass index, physical activity and diet) and 3 health factors (total cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting glucose). A greater number of iCVH components in adolescence are related to better cardiovascular health, but little is known about the correlates of iCVH in adolescents. Thus, the aim of the study was to examine correlates of iCVH in European adolescents. Methods and results: The study comprised 637 European adolescents with complete iCVH data. Participants were part of the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study, a cross-sectional, multicenter study conducted in 9 different European countries. Correlates investigated were sex and age, family affluence scale, maternal education, geographic location, sleep time, television viewing, duration of pregnancy, birth weight and breastfeeding. Younger adolescents, those whose mothers had medium/high education or those whowatched television less than 2 h per day had a greater number of iCVH components compared to those who were older, had a mother with low education or watched television 2 h or more daily (P <= 0.01). Conclusion: Since in our study older adolescents had worse iCVH than younger adolescents, early promotion of cardiovascular health may be important. Future studies mayalso investigate the usefulness of limiting television viewing to promote iCVH. Finally, since adolescents of mothers with low education had poorer iCVH, it may be of special interest to tailor public health promotion to adolescents from families with low socioeconomic status

Physical fitness and white matter microstructure in children with overweight or obesity: the ActiveBrains project

Recent studies investigated the association of cardiorespiratory fitness with white matter microstructure in children, yet little work has explored to what extent other components of physical fitness (i.e., muscular or motor fitness) are associated with white matter microstructure. Indeed, this association has not been previously explored in children with overweight/obesity who present a different white matter development. Therefore, we aimed to examine associations between physical fitness components and white matter microstructure in children with overweight/obesity. In total, 104 (10.04 +/- 1.15 years old; 43 girls) children were included in this cross-sectional study. Physical fitness was assessed using the ALPHA-fitness test battery. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity were derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). No association was found between physical fitness and global DTI metrics (all P>0.082). Within individual tracts, all associations became non-significant when analyses were adjusted for multiple comparisons. Using the voxel-wise approach, we identified a small cluster in the left lateral frontal lobe where children with greater upper-body muscular fitness showed higher FA (PFWE-corrected=0.042). Although our results cannot conclude physical fitness is related to white matter microstructure in children with overweight/obesity; those findings indicate that the association of muscular fitness with white matter microstructure might be more focal on frontal areas of the brain, as opposed to global differences

Fragmentation of daily rhythms associates with obesity and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents: The HELENA study

Background & aims: Chronobiology studies periodic changes in living organisms and it has been proposed as a promising approach to investigate obesity. We analyze the association of the characteristics of the rest-activity rhythms with obesity, cardiorespiratory fitness and metabolic risk in adolescents from nine European countries. Methods: 1044 adolescents (12.5-17.5 y) were studied. Circadian health was evaluated by actigraphy with accelerometers (Actigraph GT1M). Characteristics of the daytime activity such as fragmentation (intradaily variability), estimated acrophase, and 10 h mean daytime activity index were obtained. Body composition was assessed using Bioelectrical-Impedance-Analysis, skinfold thickness, air-displacement-plethysmography and Dual-energy-X-ray-Absorptiometry. Cardiorespiratory fitness (VO2max) and metabolic risk were studied. Results: Highly fragmented activity rhythms were associated with obesity and central adiposity (P < 0.05). Obese adolescents had-3 times higher odds of having a high fragmentation of daytime activity compared to normal weight adolescents OR (95% CI) = 2.8 (1.170, 6.443). A highly fragmented rhythm was also related to lower cardiorespiratory fitness and higher metabolic risk (P < 0.05) so those adolescents classified as low fitness showed a significantly higher fragmentation of daytime activity than those included in the high fitness group (P < 0.0001). Other characteristics of the rhythms such as smaller 10 h daytime mean activity index and delayed estimated acrophase were also related to obesity and metabolic risk (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Our results indicate that the daily organization of the rest-activity cycle is more fragmented in obese and less fit adolescents and correlates with higher metabolic risk. This fact reinforces our hypothesis that disturbances in daily rhythms can be considered as sensitive markers of poorer adolescent's health

Effects of an exercise program on brain health outcomes for children with overweight or obesity

Importance Pediatric overweight and obesity are highly prevalent across the world, with implications for poorer cognitive and brain health. Exercise might potentially attenuate these adverse consequences. Objectives To investigate the effects of an exercise program on brain health indicators, including intelligence, executive function, academic performance, and brain outcomes, among children with overweight or obesity and to explore potential mediators and moderators of the main effects of exercise. Design, Setting, and Participants All preexercise and postexercise data for this 20-week randomized clinical trial of 109 children aged 8 to 11 years with overweight or obesity were collected from November 21, 2014, to June 30, 2016, with neuroimaging data processing and analyses conducted between June 1, 2017, and December 20, 2021. All 109 children were included in the intention-to-treat analyses; 90 children (82.6%) completed the postexercise evaluation and attended 70% or more of the recommended exercise sessions and were included in per-protocol analyses. Interventions All participants received lifestyle recommendations. The control group continued their usual routines, whereas the exercise group attended a minimum of 3 supervised 90-minute sessions per week in an out-of-school setting. Main Outcomes and Measures Intelligence, executive function (cognitive flexibility, inhibition, and working memory), and academic performance were assessed with standardized tests, and hippocampal volume was measured with magnetic resonance imaging. Results The 109 participants included 45 girls (41.3%); participants had a mean (SD) body mass index of 26.8 (3.6) and a mean (SD) age of 10.0 (1.1) years at baseline. In per-protocol analyses, the exercise intervention improved crystallized intelligence, with the exercise group improving from before exercise to after exercise (mean z score, 0.62 [95% CI, 0.44-0.80]) compared with the control group (mean z score, –0.10 [95% CI, –0.28 to 0.09]; difference between groups, 0.72 SDs [95% CI, 0.46-0.97]; P < .001). Total intelligence also improved significantly more in the exercise group (mean z score, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.48-0.89]) than in the control group (mean z score, 0.07 [95% CI, –0.14 to 0.28]; difference between groups, 0.62 SDs [95% CI, 0.31-0.91]; P < .001). Exercise also positively affected a composite score of cognitive flexibility (mean z score: exercise group, 0.25 [95% CI, 0.05-0.44]; control group, –0.17 [95% CI, –0.39 to 0.04]; difference between groups, 0.42 SDs [95% CI, 0.13-0.71]; P = .005). These main effects were consistent in intention-to-treat analyses and after multiple-testing correction. There was a positive, small-magnitude effect of exercise on total academic performance (mean z score: exercise group, 0.31 [95% CI, 0.18-0.44]; control group, 0.10 [95% CI, –0.04 to 0.24]; difference between groups, 0.21 SDs [95% CI, 0.01-0.40]; P = .03), which was partially mediated by cognitive flexibility. Inhibition, working memory, hippocampal volume, and other brain magnetic resonance imaging outcomes studied were not affected by the exercise program. The intervention increased cardiorespiratory fitness performance as indicated by longer treadmill time to exhaustion (mean z score: exercise group, 0.54 [95% CI, 0.27-0.82]; control group, 0.13 [95% CI, –0.16 to 0.41]; difference between groups, 0.42 SDs [95% CI, 0.01-0.82]; P = .04), and these changes in fitness mediated some of the effects (small percentage of mediation [approximately 10%-20%]). The effects of exercise were overall consistent across the moderators tested, except for larger improvements in intelligence among boys compared with girls. Conclusions and Relevance In this randomized clinical trial, exercise positively affected intelligence and cognitive flexibility during development among children with overweight or obesity. However, the structural and functional brain changes responsible for these improvements were not identified

Associations of physical activity and screen time with white matter microstructure in children from the general population

Physical activity and sedentary behaviors have been linked to a variety of general health benefits and problems. However, few studies have examined how physical activity during childhood is related to brain development, with the majority of work to date focusing on cardio-metabolic health. This study examines the association between physical activity and screen time with white matter microstructure in the general pediatric population. In a sample of 2532 children (10.12 ± 0.58 years; 50.04% boys) from the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, we assessed physical activity and screen time using parent-reported questionnaires. Magnetic resonance imaging of white matter microstructure was conducted using diffusion tensor imaging. Total physical activity was positively associated with global fractional anisotropy (β = 0.057, 95% CI = 0.016, 0.098, p = 0.007) and negatively associated with global mean diffusivity (β = −0.079, 95% CI = −0.120, −0.038, p 0.05). This study provides new evidence that physical activity is modestly associated with white matter microstructure in children. In contrast, complementing other recent evidence on cognition, screen time was not associated with white matter microstructure. Causal inferences from these modest associations must be interpreted cautiously in the absence of longitudinal data. However, these data still offer a promising avenue for future work to explore to what extent physical activity may promote healthy white matter development

Higher socioeconomic status is related to healthier levels of fatness and fitness already at 3 to 5 years of age: The PREFIT project: Relation between socioeconomic status, fatness and fitness in preschoolers

This study aimed to analyse the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and fatness and fitness in preschoolers. 2, 638 preschoolers (3–5 years old; 47.2% girls) participated. SES was estimated from the parental educational and occupational levels, and the marital status. Fatness was assessed by body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). Physical fitness components were assessed using the PREFIT battery. Preschoolers whose parents had higher educational levels had lower fatness (P &lt; 0.05). BMI significantly differed across occupational levels of each parent (P &lt; 0.05) and WHtR across paternal levels (P = 0.004). Musculoskeletal fitness was different across any SES factor (P &lt; 0.05), except handgrip across paternal occupational levels (P = 0.05). Preschoolers with high paternal occupation had higher speed/agility (P = 0.005), and those with high or low maternal education had higher VO2max (P = 0.046). Odds of being obese and having low musculoskeletal fitness was lower as SES was higher (P &lt; 0.05). Those with married parents had higher cardiorespiratory fitness than single-parent ones (P = 0.010). School-based interventions should be aware of that children with low SES are at a higher risk of obesity and low fitness already in the first years of life

Birth weight and blood lipid levels in Spanish adolescents: Influence of selected APOE, APOC3 and PPARgamma2 gene polymorphisms. The AVENA Study

Background: There is increasing evidence indicating that genes involved in certain metabolic processes of cardiovascular diseases may be of particular influence in people with low body weight at birth. We examined whether the apolipoprotein (APO) E, APOC3 and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma-2 (PPAR gamma 2) polymorphisms influence the association between low birth weight and blood lipid levels in healthy adolescents aged 13-18.5 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 502 Spanish adolescents born at term was conducted. Total (TC) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), triglycerides (TG), apolipoprotein (apo) A and B, and lipoprotein(a) [ Lp(a)] were measured. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), TC-HDLc, TC/HDLc and apoB/apoA were calculated. Results: Low birth weight was associated with higher levels of TC, LDLc, apoB, Lp(a), TC-HDLc, TC/HDLc and apoB/apoA in males with the APOE epsilon 3 epsilon 4 genotype, whereas in females, it was associated with lower HDLc and higher TG levels. In males with the APOC3 S1/S2 genotype, low birth weight was associated with lower apoA and higher Lp(a), yet this association was not observed in females. There were no associations between low birth weight and blood lipids in any of the PPAR gamma 2 genotypes. Conclusion: The results indicate that low birth weight has a deleterious influence on lipid profile particularly in adolescents with the APOE epsilon 3/epsilon 4 genotype. These findings suggest that intrauterine environment interact with the genetic background affecting the lipid profile in later life