Pediatric lifestyle and risk of obesity: the role of sedentary behaviour, daily physical activity, and eating patterns in 7-9 years-old children

BACKGROUND: Childhood obesity prevalence has reached epidemic proportions in Portugal during last decades. Therefore, the present study aimed to analyse associations between daily physical activity (PA), eating patterns and obesity risk in children. METHODS: The sample comprised 4335 children (2077 girls) aged 7-9 years. Height and weight, and BMI were mea-sured. PA and sedentary behaviour (SB) were assessed by questionnaire as well as eating patterns (i.e. have breakfast; consumption of soup and vegetables, and soft drinks and chocolate). Logistic regressions were used, with adjustments for age, time spent sedentary, nutritional habits, and parental education. RESULTS: After controlling for sedentary behaviour, there was not any significant association between obesity risk and PA. Inspection of the final regression model, girls who eat soup in a daily basis were 78% less likely to be classified as overweight/obese than their peers who do not consume soup regularly; furthermore, boys who spent more time in SB were 86% more likely to be classified as overweight than their counterparts who had less time devoted on SB. CONCLUSIONS: The present cross-sectional study revealed a positive relation between SB and child weight among Portuguese boys. Future research should extend similar design to confirm or not some of the interesting findings.