It's no secret that technology has made life a lot easier for all of us but even with the advancements we've received, there's been a lot of cons to the situation. And this is most prominently noticed in children these days. Most of them prefer to stay glued to their screens instead of going out to play and get any activity. What's worse, now that food is being adulterated so much, children put on weight rather quickly and because of any lack of exercise, these children tend to become obese.
In fact, scientists are now reporting that a major shift towards weight gain in children is prominent because they consume too much food and hardly get any exercise or physical activity. They also claim that living an increasingly sedentary and germ-free lifestyle is resulting in low energy expenditure on a daily basis and this is yet another primary factor contributing to obesity in children.
"Our study challenge that notion. We demonstrate that Amazonian children with physically active lifestyles and chronic immunological challenges don't actually burn more calories than much more sedentary children living here in the U.S," said Samuel Urlacher, assistant professor of anthropology at Baylor University in Texas. "Ultimately, eating too much, not moving too little, may be at the core of long-term weight gain and the global nutrition transition that often begins during childhood," he said.
To figure out whether there was a difference between the physical activity opted for by tribal communities and by children living in the 'modern world', the scientists collected data from 44 forager-horticulturalists Shuar children (ages 5 to 12) and compared this data with children from the UK and the US. It was then found that the Shuar children were nearly 25% more active as compared to the kids from the UK and the US.
And thanks to this physical activity, the Shuar children also had better metabolism and resistance to infections by at least 20% as compared to the kids in the cities. "These findings advance previous work among adults, showing that energy expenditure is also constrained during childhood," said study co-author Herman Pontzer from Duke University.
However, "exercise remains critically important for health and for weight management given its effects on appetite, muscle mass, cardiopulmonary function and many other factors," Urlacher said. "Our results don't suggest otherwise. Everyone should meet recommended daily physical activity levels".
