Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2017 Aug:187:134-140.e3.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.05.023. Epub 2017 Jun 13.

Obesity, Visceral Adipose Tissue, and Cognitive Function in Childhood

Lauren B Raine  1 , Naiman A Khan  2 , Eric S Drollette  2 , Matthew B Pontifex  3 , Arthur F Kramer  4 , Charles H Hillman  5
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Obesity, Visceral Adipose Tissue, and Cognitive Function in Childhood

Lauren B Raine et al. J Pediatr. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of a 9-month physical activity intervention on changes in adiposity and cognitive control based on pretrial weight status (ie, healthy weight vs obese) in children.

Study design: Participants included obese (n = 77) and matched healthy-weight (n = 77) preadolescents (8-9 years) who participated in a 9-month physical activity randomized controlled trial. Cognitive function was assessed with an inhibitory control task (modified flanker task).

Results: After the 9-month physical activity intervention, participants exhibited a reduction in adiposity. In contrast, children in the waitlist-control condition, particularly children identified as obese pretrial, gained visceral adipose tissue (P= .008). Changes in visceral adipose tissue were related to changes in cognitive performance, such that the degree of reduction in visceral adipose tissue directly related to greater gains in inhibitory control, particularly among obese intervention participants (CI -0.14, -0.04; P= .001).

Conclusions: Participation in a daily physical activity program not only reduces adiposity but also improves children's cognitive function as demonstrated by an inhibitory control task. Furthermore, these findings reveal that the benefits of physical activity to improvements in cognitive function are particularly evident among children who are obese.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01334359 and NCT01619826.

Keywords: adiposity; inhibitory control; physical activity.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carrol MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of Obesity and Trends in Body Mass Index Among US Children and Adolescents, 1999–2010. J Am Med Assoc. 2012;307(5):483. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ogden CL, Flegal KM, Carroll MD, Johnson CL. Prevalence and Trends in Overweight Among. Jama. 2002;288(14):1728–32. - PubMed
    1. Ebbeling CB, Pawlak DB, Ludwig DS. Childhood obesity: public-health crisis, common sense cure. Lancet. 2002;360:473–82. - PubMed
    1. Després J-P, Lemieux I, Bergeron J, Pibarot P, Mathieu P, Larose E, et al. Abdominal obesity and the metabolic syndrome: contribution to global cardiometabolic risk. Arter Thromb Vasc Biol [Internet] 2008;28:1039–49. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18356555. - PubMed
    1. Gower BA, Nagy TR, Goran MI. Visceral fat, insulin sensitivity, and lipids in prepubertal children. Diabetes. 1999;48(8):1515–21. - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data