Sneaky kids let their dogs do the walking
About 200 children in east London were given pedometers to automatically count how many steps they walked and ran each day as part of a research study.
But when the researchers at Mile End Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine reviewed the results, they couldn’t figure out why some of the fat kids could be so fat, based on the amount of exercise the pedometers showed they were getting.
Turns out the little scamps were attaching the devices to their dogs’ collars.
The pilot study in Whitechapel required 11 and 12-year-olds to clip a pedometer to their waists, with researchers at the centre collecting the readings by satellite, according to a BBC report.
“But after a week we found there were some kids who were extremely active but still obese,” said Professor Nicola Maffulli.
It was “not unheard of” for participants in previous studies to manipulate the readings of pedometers, he added. Once adjusted to take into account the help from pets, the study indicated that boys in the borough walk or run 12,620 steps a day, below the recommended level of 15,000 steps. Girls were found to take 10,150 steps, falling short of the recommended 12,000 steps.
It indicated that more than a third of 11 and 12-year-olds in the borough of Tower Hamlets are overweight or obese – 11% higher than the national average.
The borough’s dogs, on the other hand, are looking quite fit.
Posted by jwoestendiek July 27th, 2009 under Muttsblog.
Tags: children, dogs, england, exercise, fat, kids, mile end centre, obesity, pedometers, research, sports, steps, study
