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Overweight, obesity risk in childhood unaffected by dog ownership
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Dog ownership and dog walking do not reduce the risk for obesity or overweight in children, study data show.
“Other studies have also found no association between dog ownership and child weight status or a negative association only in some age groups,” the researchers wrote. “Overall, this suggests that the intensity of physical activity performed when walking a dog might not be vigorous or sustained enough to noticeably impact weight status.”
Carri Westgarth, BSc, MPH, PhD, of the department of epidemiology and population health, Institute of Infection and Global Health, University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and colleagues assessed data from the Liverpool SportsLinx study on 1,021 children aged 9 to 10 years to determine the relationships between dog ownership or dog walking and childhood fitness or weight status.
The Child Lifestyle and Pets Questionnaire was completed by participants to evaluate dog ownership and frequency of dog walking.
Lower scores for flexibility (P = .01) and explosive leg strength (P = .003) were associated with dog ownership, but not dog walking. Greater grip strength was weakly associated with frequent dog walking (P = .03-.05). Researchers found no evidence that ownership or walking affected child weight status.
“The potential association between involvement in dog walking and improved grip strength is feasible, considering that children of this age walking with a dog may at some point hold the leash,” the researchers wrote. “Our other tentative findings may be due to confounders associated with both dog ownership and health. For an association between health outcomes and dog walking to be biologically plausible, we would expect to find a positive association between involvement in dog walking and child health rather than a negative associated with ownership alone.” – by Amber Cox
Disclosure: Westgarth reports receiving grants from the Medical Research Council, outside of the submitted work.
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