Familial aggregation and maximal heritability of exercise participation: A cross-sectional study in schoolchildren and their nuclear families

Parental Influence on Child and Adolescent Physical Activity Level: A Meta-Analysis

Parents are often regarded as one of the significant social agents who are important to the participation of physical activity (PA) among children and adolescents. However, within the literature, the relationships between parental influences and child and adolescent PA have been inconclusive and discordant. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to quantify and synthesize the associations between parental social influences (positive parental influence, punishment, and discouragement) and the PA level of children and adolescents. Through a systematic literature search using PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, and SPORTDiscus databases, we identified 112 eligible studies and subsequently extracted 741 effect sizes for our analysis. Multilevel meta-analysis showed that the corrected zero-order correlation of positive parental influence was positive and statistically significant, r = 0.202, SE = 0.014, t = 14.975, p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) = [0.176, 0.228]. Further moderation analysis also found that this was significantly moderated by parental gender (maternal vs. paternal), respondent of influence measure (parent-reported vs. child-reported), and type of PA measure (subjective vs. objective). The corrected zero-order correlations of negative parental influences (i.e., punishment and discouragement) were not statistically significant, and no significant moderation effects were observed. The findings of our meta-analysis showed that children and adolescents had higher PA levels when their parents supported PA participation by exerting positive social influence. Punishment and discouragement against PA by parents did not appear to be significantly associated with the PA level of children and adolescents. The findings of negative parental social influence were mixed and required further investigations.

Effects of sprint interval training on sloping surfaces on aerobic and anaerobic power

Study aim: Several sprint interval training applications with different slope angles in the literature mostly focused on sprint running time and kinematic and dynamic properties of running. There is a lack of comparative studies investigating aerobic and anaerobic power. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effects of sprint interval training on sloping surfaces on anaerobic and aerobic power.

Material and methods: A total of 34 male recreationally active men aged 20.26 ± 1.68 years and having a BMI of 21.77 ± 1.74 were assigned to one of the five groups as control (CON), uphill training (EXP 1 ), downhill training (EXP 2 ), uphill + downhill training (EXP 3 ) and horizontal running training (EXP 4 ) groups. Gradually increased sprint interval training was performed on horizontal and sloping surfaces with an angle of 4°. The training period continued for three days a week for eight weeks. The initial and the final aerobic power was measured by an oxygen analyser and anaerobic power was calculated from the results of the Margaria-Kalamen staircase test.

Results: Following the training programme, an increase in aerobic power was found in all training groups (EXP 1 = 20.79%, EXP 2 = 14.95%, EXP 3 = 26.85%, p < 0.01) and EXP 4 = 20.46%) (p < 0.05) in comparison with the CON group (0.12%), but there were no differences among the training groups. However, significant increases in anaerobic power were found in uphill training (4.91%) and uphill + downhill training (8.35%) groups (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed that all sprint interval studies on horizontal and sloping surfaces have a positive effect on aerobic power, and uphill and combined training are the most effective methods for the improvement of anaerobic power.

The Effect of Place of Residence on Physical Fitness and Adherence to Mediterranean Diet in 3⁻5-Year-Old Girls and Boys: Urban vs. Rural

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of place of residence on physical fitness and adherence to Mediterranean Diet (AMD) in 3–5-year-old children, i.e., whether those who live in urban areas differ than those in rural and whether any difference varied by age. Participants were 363 preschoolers (age 3–5 years old), who performed a series of anthropometric, physical fitness tests and measured their nutritional habits through a 16-item Mediterranean Diet (KIDMED) questionnaire. The main findings of the present study were that (a) boys had better performance in ball bouncing, Medicine Ball Throw Test (MBTT), 25 m sprint, Standing Broad Jump (SBJ), crawling, and shuttle run test (SRT) than girls, and the magnitude of these differences was small; (b) preschoolers in urban residence were taller than those in rural and had better performance in SRT; (c) older preschoolers had larger anthropometric characteristics and better performance than younger preschoolers; (d) the magnitude of the effect of age was larger than the effect of residence; and (e) good AMD was more prevalent in boys than in girls and in 3-year-old participants than in their older peers, but was not related to place of residence. Therefore, these findings identified the need to develop exercise and nutrition intervention programs in preschoolers considering sex, age, and place of residence.

The heritable basis of gene-environment interactions in cardiometabolic traits

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS

Little is known about the heritable basis of gene-environment interactions in humans. We therefore screened multiple cardiometabolic traits to assess the probability that they are influenced by genotype-environment interactions.

METHODS

Fourteen established environmental risk exposures and 11 cardiometabolic traits were analysed in the VIKING study, a cohort of 16,430 Swedish adults from 1682 extended pedigrees with available detailed genealogical, phenotypic and demographic information, using a maximum likelihood variance decomposition method in Sequential Oligogenic Linkage Analysis Routines software.

RESULTS

All cardiometabolic traits had statistically significant heritability estimates, with narrow-sense heritabilities (h ²) ranging from 24% to 47%. Genotype-environment interactions were detected for age and sex (for the majority of traits), physical activity (for triacylglycerols, 2 h glucose and diastolic BP), smoking (for weight), alcohol intake (for weight, BMI and 2 h glucose) and diet pattern (for weight, BMI, glycaemic traits and systolic BP). Genotype-age interactions for weight and systolic BP, genotype-sex interactions for BMI and triacylglycerols and genotype-alcohol intake interactions for weight remained significant after multiple test correction.

CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION

Age, sex and alcohol intake are likely to be major modifiers of genetic effects for a range of cardiometabolic traits. This information may prove valuable for studies that seek to identify specific loci that modify the effects of lifestyle in cardiometabolic disease.

Elevated body mass index and body fat percentage are associated with decreased physical fitness in soccer players aged 12-14 years

Purpose

Adolescents are in increased risk for the development of obesity, while sport has been suggested as an effective means against adolescent obesity. The objectives of this study were to examine (a) the prevalence of overweightness/obesity, (b) the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body fat percent (BF), and (c) the association between BMI, BF and physical fitness in adolescent soccer players.

Methods

Members (n=136, aged 13.1±0.6 yr) of competitive soccer clubs were examined for physical and physiological characteristics.

Results

Based on international BMI cut-off points, 19.9% (n=27) of participants were classified as overweight. BMI was highly correlated with BF (r=0.77, P<0.001). BMI and BF were in inverse relationship with aerobic power (r= − 0.29, P<0.001; r= − 0.44, P<0.001, respectively), maximal anaerobic power (r= − 0.23, P=0.009; r= − 0.47, P<0.001) and local muscular endurance (r= − 0.36, P<0.001; r= − 0.67, P<0.001).

Conclusions

The strong relationship between BMI and BF suggest the further use of BMI in adolescent soccer players. The findings confirmed previous observations in the general population about the negative effect of overweight and fatness on physical fitness. The prevalence of overweightness among participants was similar with what is observed in general population. Therefore, sport participation cannot guarantee physiological body mass and body composition, and it is necessary to prescribe exercise targeting body mass and fat control.