Exercise More Important Than Diet in Children's Body Fat

Not likely.

How much of a child's body is fat and how much is lean depends more on physical activity than on diet, researchers reported here at the American College of Sports Medicine 59th Annual Meeting.

A study of 734 middleclass Australian children of average weight showed that those with a higher ratio of fat to lean were more active, but actually consumed fewer calories. "The kids who are fatter eat less and they exercise a hell of a lot more," said Richard D. Telford, PhD, an exercise physiologist at the Australian National University in Canberra...

Dr. Telford showed a graph of percent body fat and Physical Activity Index scores (approximately equal to the square root of the number of steps per day); increased body fat correlated with increased physical activity in a straight line...

Dr. Telford and colleagues also found a correlation between diet and body fat for boys, but it was the opposite of what they expected. The fatter boys consumed less sugar, less fat, fewer carbohydrate calories, and fewer total calories than the leaner ones.

Fat kids allegedly eat fewer Calories and exercise more.

Sounds as if exercise is not important, unless you want to get fat.

No?