Fitness and fatness in childhood obesity: Implications for physical activity

The global epidemic of obesity is widespread and insidious, impacting societies in both developed and developing nations. Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of various health problems including hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. Physical activity (PA) is health protective and essential for the physical growth and development of children; however, because of increasingly “toxic” and obesogenic environments, many young people are not sufficiently active. For many children, sedentary behaviors including television and screenbased games have replaced more active PA behaviors. The decreased level of habitual PA, in combination with poor eating behaviors, has a major impact on positive energy balance and undesirable weight gain in children and adolescents.