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Cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal adiposity in youth

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 61, pages 561–565 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with lower abdominal adiposity in youth. Subjects included healthy 61 African-American and 52 white children and adolescents (age: 8–17 years). Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and computed tomography. CRF (VO2max) was assessed using a graded maximal treadmill test. CRF was inversely related (P<0.05) to total adiposity, waist circumference, and visceral and abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue (AT) independent of race. These findings remained significant (P<0.05) after adjusting for age, gender and pubertal status. Multiple regression analyses revealed that CRF is an independent contributor (P<0.05) of waist circumference, and visceral and abdominal subcutaneous AT after accounting for age, pubertal status, gender and body mass index percentile. Our observation suggest that in youth, CRF is associated with lower visceral and abdominal subcutaneous AT, and reinforces the notion that youth should engage in regular physical activity to improve aerobic fitness and reduce abdominal adiposity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by US Public Health Service Grants RO1-HD-27503, K24-HD-01357, General Clinical Research Center Grant MO1-RR-00084 and Eli Lilly and Company.

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  1. Division of Pediatric Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes Mellitus, Weight Management & Wellness Center, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    S J Lee & S A Arslanian

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  1. S J Lee
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  2. S A Arslanian
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Correspondence to S A Arslanian.

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Contributors: SJL and SAA were responsible for study design, analysis and writing

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Lee, S., Arslanian, S. Cardiorespiratory fitness and abdominal adiposity in youth. Eur J Clin Nutr 61, 561–565 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602541

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