Researchers have revealed that less active infants may accumulate more fat, which in turn may put them at risk for obesity later in life.
For the study, published in the journal Obesity, researchers tracked the physical activity levels of 506 infants using small ankle-worn accelerometers for four days per tracking period at ages three, six, nine and 12 months.
For each tracking period after three, average physical activity increased by about four per cent, in line with infants becoming generally more mobile and active over the course of their first year.
Among infants, higher physical activity measured by the accelerometer was associated with lower central adiposity, a measure of lower-torso fat accumulation, the study said.
“This is the first study to demonstrate an association over time between higher levels of objectively measured physical activity and lower central adiposity in infancy,” said study lead author Sara Benjamin-Neelon from Johns Hopkins University in US. Of this group, the research team were able to get adequate accelerometer data for 506 infants.
The researcher noted that larger, longer-term studies will be necessary to determine the sustained effect of infant physical activity, but that preventing extended periods of inactivity for infants will almost certainly be good for them.
