NHANES data emphasized importance of diet and exercise in adolescent health

Promoting low sugar-sweetened beverage intake and regular physical activity may improve overall health among adolescents and may help curb childhood obesity, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

Although health officials have suspected that these two lifestyle factors play a vital role in adolescent health, the outcome of these behaviors at the metabolic and anthropometric levels remain poorly understood. Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey confirmed independent associations among sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, physical activity levels and several variables used to assess a child’s risk for these conditions.

Researchers determined the following using multivariate linear regression analyses:

Adolescents who drank more sugar-sweetened beverages had increased homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance measurements, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference and BMI percentile for age and sex. They also had decreased HDL concentrations.
Adolescents who exercised more experienced decreased HOMA-IR, LDL concentrations and triglyceride concentrations. These adolescents also had higher HDL concentrations.

“These findings thus support the promotion of each lifestyle parameter … in children or adolescents either at risk for or currently diagnosed with obesity, insulin resistance or metabolic syndrome,” the researchers wrote.

They called for more prospective studies to assess the way specific dietary modifications and exercise patterns may influence the development of these conditions in pediatric populations to develop better prevention and treatment strategies.

Bremer AA. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163:328-333.