Enhanced physical education and body fat in the primary school child

The influence of 1 hr/day of required physical education upon body skinfold readings was examined in 546 children recruited from an urban and a rural primary school in Québec. Two chorts of experimental students began the enhanced program in grade 1, with immediately preceding and succeeding clases serving as controls. The same observer took nine skinfold readings each year, within 2 weeks of each child's birthday. The data showed a significicant and relatively consistent effect of gender (females 10-19% greater than males, with a slightly larger accumulation on the trunk than on the limbs) throughout the 6 years of observation. There was also a trend to an environmental effect (rural > urban), but the experimental students did not differ significantly from their peers in control classes. It is concluded that the energy expenditure added by even a well-designed physical education program is insufficient to influence the body fatness of free-living children. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.