Using guidelines to reduce cardiometabolic risks and adiposity

Many factors are tied to adiposity and cardiometabolic risk in teenagers. A report in the Journal of Adolescent Health examined the links between sleep, physical activity, and dietary guidelines and cardiometabolic risk and adiposity in adolescents.¹

Investigators used a sample of teenagers aged 10 to 16 years. Physical activity and sleep were measured for a week using accelerometry. The physical activity guideline defined moderate-vigorous physical activity as ≥60 min/d and the sleep guideline was 9 to 11 hours per night for participants aged 10 to 13 years and 8 to 10 hours per night for participants aged 14 to 16 years. The Healthy Eating Index was used for the dietary guideline. Adiposity and cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed in an in-patient setting.

There were 342 teenagers recruited for the study and 251 gave complete measurements. The average age of the participants was 12.5 ± 1.9 years and 48% of them had overweight or obesity. Roughly half of the participants met the sleep guideline; 11% met the physical activity guideline; and 20% were preselected as meeting the diet guideline. Forty-seven percent met one guideline and 35% met noneof the guidelines. Just 18% of the participants met more than one guideline. Lower cardiometabolic risk factors and adiposity was linked to meeting the physical activity. When compared with the participants who met no guidelines, the participants who met more than one guideline had lower adiposity and lower cardiometabolic risk factors.

Investigators concluded that not meeting the guidelines was linked with adverse cardiometabolic risk factors and adiposity. They think that tactics to change multiple behaviors could improve adolescent health.

Reference

1. Kracht CL, Champagne CM, Hsia DS, et al. Association between meeting physical activity, sleep, and dietary guidelines and cardiometabolic risk factors and adiposity in adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health. 2020:66(6):733-739. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2019.12.011