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By Kristina Bergen
SPARK Writer
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Physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits have created a burgeoning childhood obesity epidemic in Canada that contributes to alarming rates of diabetes, heart disease and other chronic health problems.
But just how much daily activity is needed to keep kids healthy?
University of Saskatchewan researcher Mark Tremblay has received $104,600 from the Canadian Population Health Initiative (CPHI) to try and find out.
He will compare the physical activity and fitness of children in rural and urban Saskatchewan to that of Old Order Mennonite children near Guelph, Ontario who continue the highly physical daily activity patterns of previous generations.
Known for resistance to social and technological change, the Mennonite community lives without the modern conveniences of automobiles, electronics, or computers. Boys work on the farm with their fathers and girls work in the house with their mothers. Sport participation is discouraged, yet daily physical activity levels are high, and obesity levels low.
"This glimpse of the past may provide insight into how to prevent childhood obesity," says Tremblay, who is Dean of the College of Kinesiology.
"The answer to resolving the childhood obesity epidemic may lie in re-introducing common, repetitive activities of daily living into our lives - behaviors which the Old Order Mennonites have preserved, and which seem to afford them some protection from the physical deterioration associated with modern living."
He notes that automated technology has resulted in a sedentary modern lifestyle. "When we don't move, the body starts to deteriorate - the heart doesn't pump as fast, our lungs don't work as hard, our muscles don't contract, our bones don't accrue mass," he says.
Daily caloric intake is not increasing, he says, yet child obesity is reaching epidemic proportions.
"You can control caloric intake by reducing what you eat, but there will never be a magic pill that will stimulate and benefit the body the way physical activity does," he says.
He adds that restricting a child's food intake should be discouraged because children need essential nutrients for normal development, and there's also a risk of eating disorders.
Each of the 450 nine- to 12-year-olds in the study will be monitored by an accelerometer (motion sensor) that resembles a small pager and is worn at the hip during the day. The device, which measures activity 10 times per second, will be worn for one week in the fall, while children are in school and less active for many hours a day, and for another week in the summer, when children have more active leisure time.
Children will also undergo a physical fitness test and report their activities on a questionnaire. Tremblay expects that children who are physically active will be healthier than those who are not.
Tremblay has also contributed to the creation of Health Canada's just-released physical activity guides for youth and children.
The guides encourage young people to increase time spent in physical activity by 30 minutes per day - by taking a walk after supper, playing outside, or helping to carry groceries. The guides also encourage youth to decrease time spent in front of the television or computer.
According to Tremblay's calculations, getting off the couch to change the television channel can burn more than 45 pounds of fat over an average lifetime.
CPHI is funded by Health Canada and is an initiative within the Canadian Institute for Health Information, a not-for-profit organization working to improve Canadian health.
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