Month: November 2011

-research ensures that “ the reduction in energy expenditure represents a significant part of the increase in average men and American women body weight ”

Madrid, November 2011- A recent survey by American scientistsIt points out that over the past 50 years, the daily expenditure of energy produced by physical activity in the work environment has declined in more than 100 calories, pace that there have been changes in body weight of United States citizens.UU. This study, entitled “ trends over 5 decades in the United States.UU. between physical activity in the work environment and its relationship to obesity ”, has been published in the prestigious scientific journal PLoS ONE‟.

Research that have used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the national survey of health and nutrition (NHANES) of the United States.UU., has recently reviewed the evolution of physical activity at the workplace of the Americans. In it, it has been revealed that during the past 5 decades, the daily expenditure of energy produced by physical activity in the work environment has decreased in more than 100 calories, while there have been changes in body weight of United States citizens.UU.

The study, recently published in the journal PLoS ONE‟ pointed out that at the beginning of the 1960s, almost half of the work of the private sector required at least one physical activity of moderate intensity, while currently less than 20% of the work, they require this level of energy expenditure.

In this regard, the experts felt that, from 1960-62 until 2003-06, “ daily expenditure of energy in the workplace had declined in 142 calories in male ”. Thus, for a weight of reference of 76.9 kg in 1960-62, this decrease in caloric expenditure would be increased by an average until the 89.7 kg weight These achieved similar results for men and women, also coincided with the model of energy balance of the NHANES survey which estimated average 91.9 kg weight, for that period.

According to the authors, the decline in physical activity at work has been motivated by the progressive decline in the percentage of individuals employed in agricultural occupations and production of goods, persons employed in service occupations increased. In this sense, researchers have concluded that “ the reduction in energy expenditure represents a significant part of the increase in average men and American women body weight ”.

Also, those responsible for the study have highlighted that “having a greater understanding of the relative importance of physical activity within the work environment, in the current epidemic of obesity, should help to formulate a comprehensive programme based on scientific data that includes various policies, strategies and tactics to combat this persistent problem ”.

“In this regard, have pointed out that physical activity “ is the only writable variable which can contribute to the total energy spent, representing a key factor in strategies for the prevention of overweight and obesity, as well as control of body weight ”.

Bibliographic references:

-Church TS, Thomas DM, C Tudor-Locke, Katzmarzyk PT, Earnest PE, Rodarte RQ, Martin CK, Blair SN, C. Bouchard “ Trends over 5 Decades in U.S. Occupation-Related Physical Activity and Their Associations with Obesity ”. PLoS One. 2011; 6 (5)