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Physical activity intensity, sedentary behavior, body composition and physical fitness in 4-year-old children: results from the ministop trial

International Journal of Obesity volume 40, pages 1126–1133 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

Existing knowledge on associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with body composition and physical fitness in preschoolers is limited.

Objective:

To examine associations of PA and SB with body composition and physical fitness in healthy Swedish 4-year-old children.

Methods:

We utilized baseline data collected in 2014 for the population-based MINISTOP trial (n=307). Light-intensity PA (LPA), moderate-intensity PA (MPA), vigorous-intensity PA (VPA), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and SB were measured using accelerometry (ActiGraph-wGT3x-BT). Body composition was measured using air-displacement plethysmography, and physical fitness (that is, cardiorespiratory fitness, lower and upper body muscular strength and motor fitness) was measured using the PREFIT fitness test battery. Multiple linear regression models adjusted for relevant confounders, and in addition, isotemporal substitution models were applied.

Results:

Greater MVPA was associated with lower fat mass percent (%FM, P=0.015), and greater VPA and MVPA were associated with higher fat-free mass index (FFMI, P=0.002 and P=0.011). In addition, greater VPA and MVPA were associated with higher scores for all physical fitness tests (P=0.042 to P<0.001). The results for MVPA were primarily due to VPA. SB was associated with weaker handgrip strength (P=0.031) when PA was not adjusted, but after adjusting also for VPA, the significant association disappeared (P=0.25). Substituting 5 min per day of SB, LPA or MPA with 5 min per day of VPA was associated with higher FFMI and better scores for cardiorespiratory fitness and motor fitness. Correspondingly, substituting 5 min per day of VPA with SB or LPA was associated with weaker performance for lower muscular strength.

Conclusions:

Time spent on VPA was associated with higher FFMI and better physical fitness. The results suggest that promoting VPA may be important to improve childhood body composition and physical fitness already at an early age.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the participating families, as well as Eva Flinke Carlsson, Gunilla Hennermark, Birgitta Jensen and Ann-Sofie Risinger for help regarding recruitment and data collection. The MINISTOP project was funded by the Swedish Research Council (project no. 2012-2883, ML), the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (2012-0906, ML), Bo and Vera Axson Johnsons Foundation and Karolinska Institutet (ML). MHL was supported by a grant from Juho Vainio Foundation; JRR, FBO and CC-S were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grants RYC-2010-05957, RYC-2011-09011 and BES-2014-068829, respectively). PH was supported by a grant from Johan Throne-Holst’s Foundation.

Author contribution

ML is the Principal Investigator for the MINISTOP trial and designed this analysis together with all the co-authors. JRR, FBO and CC-S designed the fitness tests for the MINISTOP trial, and, in addition, CC-S contributed to the data analyses. CDN was responsible for data collection and contributed to manuscript preparation, JP was responsible for processing of the accelerometer data and PH for the statistical analyses. MHL was responsible for data analysis and drafted the manuscript, which was subsequently reviewed by PH, CDN, FBO, JRR, CC-S, JP and ML. All the authors approved the final version.

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Author notes

  1. M H Leppänen and C Delisle Nyström: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Sciences, University of Jyvaskyla, FI-40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    M H Leppänen

  2. Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, NOVUM, Huddinge, Sweden

    C Delisle Nyström & M Löf

  3. Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, Linkoping University, Linkoping, Sweden

    P Henriksson & M Löf

  4. Department of Physical Education and Sports, PROmoting FITness and Health through physical activity research group (PROFITH), Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    P Henriksson, J R Ruiz, F B Ortega & C Cadenas-Sánchez

  5. Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, Marshfield, WI, USA

    J Pomeroy

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Correspondence to M Löf.

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Leppänen, M., Nyström, C., Henriksson, P. et al. Physical activity intensity, sedentary behavior, body composition and physical fitness in 4-year-old children: results from the ministop trial. Int J Obes 40, 1126–1133 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2016.54

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