"The Impact of Diet and
Exercise on BMI in Secondary Students in Ireland"
 |
| Darragh, Rory and Nathaniel @ the Department of Biological Sciences, UL |
They screened diet
and lifestyle habits in year 1 boys of St Munchins College, Limerick by using a
questionnaire. From advice from the
SciFest judges in May 2018 (bronze medal in their category), they also conducted a survey on present Transition years.
They then chose 20 volunteers from their survey from first years and transition year and investigated the body
composition indicating their weight, Fat % , Fat Mass , Fat Free Mass,
Muscle Mass, Total body water (TBW), TBW%, BMI, Desirable range fat%.
The monitoring of their body fat and
BMI was conducted using a Tanita body analyser in the University of Limerick
and they found that the boys who exercise regularly had a lower BMI whereas the boys who exercise less had a
higher BMI.
A clear correlation between lifestyle choices
and BMI was found. These results highlight the value of adhering to dietary
guidelines of Irish Food and the Mediterranean diet Pyramids. This study is the first of this type in
Ireland and we hope that it will bring a new insight on the origins of obesity
of young people in Ireland.
In orange, the control groups (no exercise) and in blue the groups of boys who exercise regularly.
In orange the control groups and in blue the boys who exercise regularly. Clear differences were observed between the control and exercise groups.
"Our volunteers from our first year group have low consumption of fruits and
vegetables (61% consume < 2 portions of fruit per day whereas 50% consume
<2 portions of vegetable per day). The monitoring of their body fat and BMI
was conducted using a Tanita body analyser in the University of Limerick and we
found that the boys who exercise regularly have a mean BMI of 21.8 whereas the
boys who exercise less have an average
BMI of 26.5 (overweight region).
We found
similar results from our Transition year
students the average BMI for TY students who do sport was 21.8(healthy range)
while the overall BMI for TY students who don’t do sport was 26.5(overweight
region).
The fat
content data follow similar trends for both years and both groups.
This is
solid proof that exercise lowers BMI.
A clear
correlation between lifestyle choices and BMI was found. These results
highlight the value of adhering to dietary guidelines of Irish Food and the
Mediterranean diet Pyramids.
We suggest:
1) the vending machines in schools to
offer healthy options(e.g fruit bars and
fruits /protein bars) and 2) to create a newsletter, promoting Mediterranean
Diet and exercise, to be circulated in our school "
[The lads were Dublin Finalists in January 2019, BTYS and they presented their project in UL, in May 2019]
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Few days ago, this paper was published:
The following figure (fig 1 in the paper) is from this paper.
 |
| Obesity as per social class group |
According to the authors
"Figure 1 illustrates the proportion of Irish children who
had overweight or obesity based on their social class group
in 2019. A significant difference in overweight/obesity
levels based on social class group was apparent (P = 0·02).
Those from the highest social class had the lowest overall
prevalence of overweight/obesity at 13 %, in comparison
with those from the lowest social class who had the highest
prevalence at 25 %. The same pattern was observed for
abdominal overweight/obesity as the proportion of children
with a WC ≥ 85th percentile was significantly higher in the
lowest social class group at 36 % in comparison with 20%
in the highest social class group (P = 0·006)"
"Health inequalities resulting from social class have
been labelled as one of the main drivers of the obesity epidemic(
35). Prevalence of overweight and obesity in children
in Ireland was starkly different based on social class in
2019. Levels rose steadily from 13 % in children from the
highest social class group to 25 % in those from the lowest,
with a comparable pattern observed for abdominal
overweight/obesity. Similarly, it has been reported that a
higher proportion of children attending disadvantaged
schools had overweight/obesity compared with those
attending non-disadvantaged schools(36). Furthermore,
inequalities in overweight/obesity prevalence have also
been described in American and British children(37,38).
These findings highlight the continued widening gap in
overweight and obesity levels based on social class in
children, with those from a lower social class being more
predisposed to this disease.
In comparison with overweight and obesity, children
with morbid obesity are three times more likely to experience
immediate health issues such as worsened cardiometabolic
risk profiles, high blood pressure, and suffer from
depression and anxiety(39–42). In 2019, 1·2 % of children
had morbid obesity, with a slightly higher level of morbid
obesity observed in boys at 1·7 % than girls at 0·7 %.
Moreover, a higher prevalence was observed in children
from a low socio-economic background. A similar level
of morbid obesity was found in the COSI at 1·5 % in
2012/2015 with higher rates occurring in children attending
disadvantaged schools(43). Across Europe, a recent assessment
of the prevalence of morbid obesity found that of
the children who had obesity, at least one in four had
morbid obesity, with the highest rates observed in
Southern Europe(44)."
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Points arising:
1. how do schools tackle the problem of adolescent obesity? Are they any "healthy eating" initiatives in place? Newsletter? Quality of food provided in canteens?
2. how do councils approach the societal gaps in relation to nutrition and obesity?
3. does the Irish Food Pyramid need updating? We believe it does.
But how do the competent authorities approach this problem?
