It’s known that exercise is a key factor leading to sustained weight loss. But, a new study says otherwise – physical activity has no impact on obese children and instead they should be encouraged to eat more healthy.
Researchers studied 300 children over five years and found that obese kids are inactive because of their weight and not fat as they are inactive. Parents should focus on healthy eating and cutting calorie consumption rather than getting their children engage in sports, according to them.
"Our explanation is that fat kids are inactive because they are fat. They find it hard to exercise as they run out of breath and so they don’t. It is getting them to make sure they do not acquire fats through other means in the first place.
"They will lose more weight through healthy, lifelong changes to their diet than physical activity. The most cost effective way of easing the problem would be to put all the money into getting kids to stop eating junk food rather than splitting it between that and getting them active.
"It is tempting to make kids more active but it doesn’t produce the expected results," The Daily Telegraph quoted lead researcher Brad Metcalf of the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth as saying.
The current research follows a recent British study which has pointed out that overweight kids are actually better off doing less intensive exercises if they are to shed the extra pounds effectively.
But, the study, published in the British Medical Journal, stopped short of saying that physical activity is not at all effective for obese children.
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