I commend the authors of this paper on their strategy – namely to try
and look at an individual piece of the jigsaw that is obesity in a well
constructed and conducted trial. Sadly, as everyone who has bought gym
membership as a single intervention to lose weight would have told them,
they were always on a losing wicket.
If we assume that a pound of fat requires roughly 3 500 kCals to be
burnt off unreplaced, and that the most that many adults can burn off is
no more than 10 kCals/min during cardiovascular exercise, one pound of
fat’s worth of energy takes at least 6 hours of decent intensity
cardiovascular exercise to lose if that is all you do different. I know
there are a host of assumptions and fudge factors here, but the principle
works.
I have no idea what the equivalent total would be for a group of
overweight 4 year olds in a group at nursery, but I struggle to believe
that we would expect 36 hours of this (assuming they attended and co-
operated with every session and didn’t up their food intake afterwards)
would be even close to enough to see a significant difference.
Consequently, I don’t think this tells us anything we didn’t already know
ie there are no quick fixes, exercise over a period of a lifetime is a
good thing, and obesity is a lifestyle issue, encompassing diet, exercise,
and a whole family approach to healthier living. Tough but true
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
22 November 2006
Ian P Rodd
Consultant Paediatrician
Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester SO21 5DG
Rapid Response:
Childhood obesity and gym membership
Sir
I commend the authors of this paper on their strategy – namely to try and look at an individual piece of the jigsaw that is obesity in a well constructed and conducted trial. Sadly, as everyone who has bought gym membership as a single intervention to lose weight would have told them, they were always on a losing wicket.
If we assume that a pound of fat requires roughly 3 500 kCals to be burnt off unreplaced, and that the most that many adults can burn off is no more than 10 kCals/min during cardiovascular exercise, one pound of fat’s worth of energy takes at least 6 hours of decent intensity cardiovascular exercise to lose if that is all you do different. I know there are a host of assumptions and fudge factors here, but the principle works.
I have no idea what the equivalent total would be for a group of overweight 4 year olds in a group at nursery, but I struggle to believe that we would expect 36 hours of this (assuming they attended and co- operated with every session and didn’t up their food intake afterwards) would be even close to enough to see a significant difference. Consequently, I don’t think this tells us anything we didn’t already know ie there are no quick fixes, exercise over a period of a lifetime is a good thing, and obesity is a lifestyle issue, encompassing diet, exercise, and a whole family approach to healthier living. Tough but true
Competing interests: None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests