Exercising opportunities to prevent chronic disease: The CAPO Kids trial

Physical activity is considered to be an effective strategy to improve children’s health and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases; osteoporosis and obesity being two examples with particularly high morbidity and increased mortality. An exercise program to improve both bone and reduce fat would be ideal. Problematically, bone is known to respond primarily to brief bouts of high-impact activity, while the traditional exercise recommendation to reduce fat is longer duration, low to moderate intensity aerobic activity. The overall aim of the current work was to develop a novel exercise program for pre and peripubertal children to improve bone and minimise the accumulation of fat. The thesis describes four studies, presented as two published manuscripts, one in press and another under review. In the first study, we conducted a comprehensive systematic review, to determine the effects of previous bone-targeted exercise interventions on bone, muscle and fat in school-age children. Meta-analyses were conducted to quantify the findings of the sixteen studies included in the review. We concluded that improvements in fat have previously been observed as secondary benefits of bone-targeted in-school exercise programs.