A recent study has revealed that prolonged sitting time from childhood through adolescence leads to an increase in body fat, including abdominal fat. However, light physical activity may fully reverse this harmful process.
According to the study reports, more than 80% of adolescents worldwide do not meet the World Health Organization's recommended average of 60 minutes of physical activity per day.
The research was conducted in collaboration between the universities of Bristol and Exeter in the United Kingdom, the University of Colorado in the United States, and the University of Eastern Finland. It was published in the journal "Nature Communications" and involved 6,059 children.
Throughout the study, metrics were collected on increased sitting time, the rate of light physical activity, moderate to vigorous physical activity, body fat mass, and skeletal muscle mass.
Researchers examined glucose and insulin levels, cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, and took into account smoking habits.
The findings showed that each minute a child or adolescent spends inactive is associated with a 1.3-gram increase in total body fat mass.
Conversely, each minute spent engaging in light physical activity during growth between childhood and adolescence is associated with a decrease of 3.6 grams in body fat mass.
