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Diet and Exercise Helps Reverse Vascular Dysfunction in Obese Children

Posted: Friday, April 16, 2004

That, comes from a report published in the April 6th rapid access issue of Circulation.

"We were surprised that the children had developed vascular abnormalities at such a young age--and by how readily these could be reversed with simple lifestyle measures," lead author Dr. Kam S. Woo, from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in a statement.

The findings are based on a study of 82 overweight children who were randomized to receive a low-fat diet alone or in combination with a structured exercise program for 6 weeks. After this period, all 41 subjects in the diet only group and 22 of 41 in the diet plus exercise group continued their assigned intervention for 1 year.

During the initial 6 weeks, both interventions were associated with a significant reduction in waist-hip ratio and total cholesterol level and with improved vascular function. The effect on vascular function was more pronounced with diet plus exercise than with diet alone (p = 0.01).

At 1-year follow-up, further improvements in endothelial function were seen in children who continued the exercise intervention. Moreover, continued exercise had beneficial effects on carotid wall thickening, body fat content, and lipid profiles. Less dramatic benefits were seen in children who maintained the diet-only intervention.

"This highlights the importance of regular exercise in preventing obesity-related vascular dysfunction in children," Dr. Woo emphasized.

In a related editorial, Dr. Stephan Gielen and Dr. Rainer Hambrecht, from the University of Leipzig in Germany, comment that this report "provides conclusive evidence that aggressive lifestyle modification by diet and physical exercise training are needed in overweight children to correct endothelial function as a marker of cardiovascular risk."

Source: Diabetes in Control