Three times as much physical education reduced the risk of children being overweight or obese after 5 years.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

We evaluated the effect that increasing physical education lessons from 1.5 to 4.5 hours per week for 5 years had on the body mass index (BMI) and waist circumferences of children aged 5-11 years at inclusion.

Methods

From 2008 to 2013, six intervention schools in Svendborg, Denmark, delivered 4.5 hours of physical education lessons per week to 750 children. Meanwhile, four matched control schools gave 549 children the standard 1.5 hours of physical education lessons per week. Measurements were taken at baseline and yearly for 5 years. Of the 1299 children, 81 joined the schools after 2008.

Results

At baseline, the percentage of overweight children was 12% in the intervention schools and 13% in the control schools, whereas 15% and 19% were abdominal obese, respect

SUBMITTER: Kuhr P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7028115 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature