Abstract
BackgroundActive commuting is a good opportunity to accumulate physical activity (PA) across the lifespan that potentially might influence central body fat. We aimed to examine the prospective associations of active commuting at 11, 15 and 18 years of age with central body fat at 18 years.MethodsParticipants were part of a large birth cohort study in Pelotas, Brazil (n = 3,649 participants). Active commuting, leisure-time PA and income were self-reported at 11, 15 and 18 years. Waist circumference and trunk fat mass were collected at 18 years with the use of a 3-dimensional photonic scanner and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, respectively.ResultsActive commuting at 11 years was not prospectively associated with central body fat. However, we found that active commuting at 15 and 18 years were prospectively and cross-sectionally associated with central body fat variables, respectively, in boys but not in girls. Also, boys in the highest tertile of accumulated active commuting (i.e., average of active commuting at 11, 13 and 18 years) were associated with −2.09 cm (95%CI: −3.24; −0.94) of waist circumference and −1.11 kg (95%CI: −1.74; −0.48) of trunk fat mass compared to boys in the lowest tertile. Analyses on changes in tertiles of active commuting from 11 and 15 years to 18 years with central body fat variables at 18 years showed that boys who remained consistently in the highest tertile or moved to a higher tertile had lower levels of central body fat compared to those consistently in the lowest tertile.ConclusionsActive commuting throughout adolescence in boys, especially during middle and late adolescence, is associated with lower levels in central fatness before adulthood.
Highlights
Excess central body fat is both a clinical and public health problem in adulthood [1]
A third and another unexplored mechanism is based on compelling evidence that active commuting in adulthood is positively associated with central body fat and other health outcomes [13,14,15,16,17], so that young people who commuted to school may be likely of being active commuters in adulthood
Active commuting and leisure time physical activity (PA) were higher in boys than girls
Summary
Excess central body fat is both a clinical and public health problem in adulthood [1]. Some studies examined this mechanism, but there is no convincing evidence to suggest that active commuting to school is associated with lower levels of central body fat in youth [7,8,9,10]. A second and unexplored mechanism would be that active commuting to school might be important whether it is accumulated over a long period of time to achieve their benefits on health This fact would be important during adolescence where there is large decreasing in PA [11,12]. Active commuting is a good opportunity to accumulate physical activity (PA) across the lifespan that potentially might influence central body fat. We aimed to examine the prospective associations of active commuting at 11, 15 and 18 years of age with central body fat at 18 years
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