TUESDAY, Sept. 18 (HealthDay News) — Getting plenty of aerobic
exercise can help overweight children reduce their risk of
diabetes, according to a new study. One-third of U.S. elementary
school-aged youngsters are overweight or obese. Childhood
obesity is associated with a range of health problems formerly
thought to occur only in adults, including type 2 diabetes,
according to background information in the study. Researchers
assessed how different amounts of aerobic exercise affected
diabetes risk factors, such as insulin resistance, levels of
overall body fat and abdominal fat in more than 200 inactive
overweight or obese U.S. children. The children had an average
age of 9.4 years old. Some of the children were randomly
assigned to low (20 minutes a day) or high (40 minutes a day)
amounts of aerobic training five days a week for an average of
13 weeks. They were compared to a control group of children who
did their normal physical activity. The study was published in
the Sept. 19 issue of the Journal of the