Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Paper
  • Published:

Physical activity related energy expenditure and fat mass in young children

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether body fat content in pre-pubertal children is influenced by physical activity related energy expenditure (AEE) and/or more qualitative aspects of physical activity. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SUBJECT: 101 pre-pubertal children were examined in Study 1: (age: 5.3±0.9 y; weight: 20.2±3.6 kg). In Study 2: 68 of the original children were re-examined (age: 6.3±0.9 y; weight: 23.6±5.0 y). MEASUREMENT: Fat mass (FM) and fat free mass (FFM) were determined by bioelectrical resistance and skinfolds; AEE was estimated from the difference between total energy expenditure (TEE) by doubly labeled water and post-prandial resting energy expenditure (REE) by indirect calorimetry; qualitative information on activity was derived by questionnaire. RESULTS: AEE was significantly correlated with FFM (r=0.32 in both Studies) and body weight (r=0.28 in Study 1; r=0.29 in Study 2), but not FM. There were no significant relationships between AEE and any of the variables from the activity questionnaire in children (including TV time, playing time, and an accumulated activity index in h/week). After adjusting for FFM, age, and gender, FM was inversely related to activity time in h/week (partial r=−0.24 in Study 1; partial r=−0.32 in Study 2) but not AEE (P>0.5). CONCLUSION: After adjusting for FFM, age, and gender, a small portion of the variance in body fat mass in children (10%) is explained by time devoted to recreational activity, whereas none of the variance is explained by the combined daily energy expenditure related to physical activity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Goran, M., Hunter, G., Nagy, T. et al. Physical activity related energy expenditure and fat mass in young children. Int J Obes 21, 171–178 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800383

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800383

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links