The Impact of Nutrition, Sedentary Behaviour and Lifestyle on School-Age Children

Background and Aims. Diet and lifestyle in school-age children have a particularly large impact on health, as well as various consequences in future. The objective of this papers it to assess the relationship between lifestyle and daily diet and the effects of an unhealthy diet. Material and Methods. An observational cohort study was conducted in Bucharest, in three schools and one high school on 100 children, between 2011 and 2013. The criterion for inclusion was the appropriate age (school-age). The protocol consisted in clinical examination, body mass index (BMI) calculation, questions about diet, physical activity and time spent watching television (TV). Results. Most children do not respect a schedule of meals and snacks (78%). Unhealthy diet (fast food, carbonated beverages, chocolate) registered higher preferences. Mean TV time was 2.32 hours/day (SD=1.92) and a strong evidence on relationship between age and number of hours allocated to TV was discovered (p< .01). Four percent of children were found to be under the 5th percentile (underweight), 18% between 85th and 95th percentile (overweight) and 14% above 95th percentile (obesity). Conclusions. A sedentary life in this case was mainly determined by the time spent daily in front of the television rather than lack of exercise.