Energy balance
Reallocating time from moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to sedentary behavior or light physical activity (LPA) significantly increases BMI z-scores in children, whereas reallocating time to MVPA yields only modest decreases in BMI z-scores.
For children, maintaining moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is far more critical for weight management than simply reducing sitting time. Losing 30 minutes of MVPA has a much larger negative impact on BMI than the positive impact of gaining 30 minutes of light activity or reducing sitting. Prioritize high-intensity movement over passive rest.
Figure 1 shows that, at the mean composition, the reallocation of time away from MVPA was associated with increased zBMI. Specifically, replacing MVPA for sedentary behaviour was associated with the largest expected increases in zBMI (e.g., +0.26 [95% CI: 0.07, 0.45] for 30-minute reallocation).
Why this rating
The study is cross-sectional, limiting causal inference, but uses a robust statistical method (compositional isotemporal substitution) on a large international dataset (ISCOLE).
Source
The compositional isotemporal substitution model: A method for estimating changes in a health outcome for reallocation of time between sleep, physical activity and sedentary behaviour
Dorothea Dumuid et al. · Statistical Methods in Medical Research · 2017
DOI 10.1177/0962280217737805
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