With at least one in four Australian children either overweight or obese, Queensland University of Technology researchers are aiming to find out what effect excess weight is having on our kids.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellows Dr Masa Kagawa and Rachel Wood, and Professor Andrew Hills, from the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI), will be looking at physiological and musculoskeletal differences in overweight children in a new study.
The researchers are looking for volunteers aged between 10 and 13 to participate in the study, and would like to work with children of all sizes.
The project is part of an interstate collaborative research project, involving member universities of Australian Technology Network (ATN) Centre for Metabolic Fitness.
Volunteers will have their body composition, strength, balance and fitness measured, and learn how they can improve their physical well-being.
"The chance to obtain such comprehensive physical fitness and functional abilities in children are rare," said Dr Kagawa.
"We want to determine how overweight or obese children differ in terms of strength, balance and a range of other motor skills, basically whether being overweight might affect their general quality of life.
"There have been studies which have suggested that overweight children do have poorer motor skills, musculoskeletal function, and cardiorespiratory fitness than leaner children, but we are not sure of the significance of such differences.
"There could be reduced physical function and ability to participate in physical activities, as well as physiological function, balance and motor skills.
"We will then discuss how this can be modified, for example, recommending activities to improve muscle function."
The physical activity of the study's participants will also be assessed over a period of seven days.
"Sedentary lifestyles and certain dietary behaviours contribute to obesity so we will also be looking at children's lifestyle, behaviours and how these may contribute to the risk of becoming overweight or obese," said Dr Kagawa.
He said the volunteers would need to visit the Kelvin Grove campus at QUT twice for the study.
Media contact: Sharon Thompson, QUT Marketing and Communication - 3138 4494 or sharon.thompson@qut.edu.au
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