Lh. Epstein et Gs. Goldfield, Physical activity in the treatment of childhood overweight and obesity: current evidence and research issues, MED SCI SPT, 31(11), 1999, pp. S553-S559
Purpose: This paper reviews the utility of exercise as a treatment for over
weight and obese children and adolescents. Methods: Computer database searc
hes identified 13 studies that met the following criteria for inclusion: 1)
obese children or adolescents were provided either different types of exer
cise programs or an exercise progam compared with a no-exercise control: 2)
subjects were randomly assigned to groups or assigned by matching on demog
raphic and anthropometric variables, and 3) the exercise program was at lea
st 2 months in duration. Results: The only area in which there were a suffi
cient number of studies to make a quantitative analysis was the comparison
of diet versus diet plus exercise programs, which suggested that exercise a
dds to the effect of diet in the short-term treatment of pediatric obesity.
There was not enough research to evaluate the effects of exercise alone. T
he majority of findings indicate fitness changes are greater for subjects p
rovided exercise alone or exercise combined with diet in comparison with su
bjects provided no exercise (control) or diet alone. Conclusions: Research
on effects of exercise or physical activity in pediatric obesity treatments
are encouraging and may be important for improving treatment outcome for o
besity and comorbid conditions. Recommendations for future research are pre
sented.