Fitness and fatness in childhood obesity: Implications for physical activity

Sarah Shultz, Benedicte Deforche, Nuala Byrne, Andrew Hills


6 Citations (Scopus)


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.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationGlobal Perspectives on Childhood Obesity: Current Status, Consequences and Prevention
EditorsD Bagchi
Place of PublicationHouston
PublisherAcademic Press
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9780123749956
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Fitness and fatness in childhood obesity: Implications for physical activity'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this