Physical function study to help overweight children

Helping overweight children to be physically active and participate fully in everyday life is the focus of a new study being undertaken in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane by the ATN Centre for Metabolic Fitness, with support from the Physiotherapy Research Foundation.

Led by UniSA’s Nutritional Physiology Research Centre, the study also involves research teams at RMIT University and Queensland University of Technology.

UniSA’s Nutritional Physiology Research Centre Deputy Director, Associate Professor Jon Buckley, said the physical function study is investigating the physical impacts of excessive weight and body fat on growing young bodies.

"Our previous research had shown that overweight children find it hard to increase their level of physical activity. Our most recent research suggests the reason behind this may be that excess body fat impacts negatively on physical function making it more difficult to engage in physical tasks," he said.

Associate Professor Buckley said the research shows children with excessive weight and body fat have:

• Poor quality of life;
• Reduced overall physical functioning;
• More physical pain in more locations in their bodies, and that this directly impacts their ability to carry out everyday tasks like moving from sit to stand and walking;
• Greater physical difficulty with common everyday activities like climbing half a flight of stairs;
• Weaker leg muscles, poorer fitness levels and reduced balance, and that these factors make it more difficult for kids to move around in general.

"Now that we have some early ideas about how overweight and obesity impacts on growing young bodies, we can start to look for remedies," he said.

"We can develop some simple interventions aimed at improving physical function and activity, without the need for a magical weight-loss pill. By doing so, we can help kids to achieve a healthier weight in the long term, with the added benefit of taking the focus off ‘weight’ and putting it on function and activity instead, which is likely to be a much more positive and confidence-building message for children. We also hope to offset the development of further physical problems in the long term."

(Source: University of South Australia: April 2009)