10 minutes of vigorous exercise everyday helps prevent child obesity: study

A recent Finnish study showed that 10 minutes of vigorous exercise everyday is enough to prevent a child from becoming overweight, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported on Wednesday.

The research conducted by the University of Eastern Finland was published on the latest issue of Sports Medicine.

A total of 410 children aged six to eight years from Kuopio, eastern Finland, participated in the study.

Researchers examined the conditions of physical activity and physical inactivity among the children, and the impact on the children's amount of adipose tissue and endurance fitness.

The study showed that children who did strenuous exercise for ten minutes every day had 26 percent to 30 percent less adipose tissue than their peers who were physically inactive.

Furthermore, even substituting 10 minutes of light physical activity for the equivalent time of passive sitting reduced the fat mass in children's body by 13 percent.

Based on the results of the study, small changes in habits of physical activity could effectively affect children's weight control and endurance.

Increasing physical activity and reducing sitting time are important ways to prevent obesity and improve aerobic fitness during childhood, the study concluded.

Childhood obesity is on the rise globally. According to Yle, the University of Helsinki said in a study that if the trend continues, by 2025 the number of obese children around the world could surge by 25 percent from the level in 2010. Endit