Commentary

For my latest blog entry, I had to find a commentary to use as inspiration for my own commentary. This is what I chose:

After-School Soccer for Weight Loss

A simple after-school team sports program helped low-income overweight children to lose weight.

Providing exercise programs that are not intimidating for overweight youths can be difficult. To evaluate the effect of a 6-month after-school sports program on body-mass index (BMI), physical activity levels, television and other screen time, and psychological health, researchers randomized 21 overweight (85th percentile), low-income, predominantly Hispanic 4th and 5th graders to participate in a coed soccer program 3 days each week (75 minutes of activity per session) or to attend 25 weekly after-school nutrition and health education classes.

Soccer frequency was increased to 4 days weekly during the last 2 months of the study at the request of students and parents. No students dropped out of the study. Volunteer undergraduate students and medical students coached the team and taught the classes. Compared with controls, children on the soccer team had a significantly greater decrease in mean BMI Z-scores at 3 months and 6 months. In addition, at 3 months, the soccer group had significantly greater increases in their total daily physical activity, as well as moderate and vigorous physical activity. No significant differences were noted between groups in changes in screen time, reports of depression, or changes in self-esteem levels.

Comment: This small pilot study demonstrates how an after-school team sport can help promote weight loss in a group that otherwise is at high risk for obesity. The treatment likely was effective because it was free, the travel burden was limited, and students were playing with other overweight kids who had little prior experience with sports. More impressive than any of the statistics was that the students and parents asked for 1 more day of practice weekly and that 89% of the treatment group wanted to continue to play soccer after the program ended.

— Robin Drucker, MD

Since my category is about how playing sports can help prevent or cure obesity, this supports my view. It took me awhile to find and I ended up creating an entirely new e-mail address and accidentally subscribing to a website I don’t even remember. I think I inadvertently agreed to pay $79.95 about a month from now…