Key result
Supervised lifestyle interventions significantly reduced visceral adipose tissue in overweight and obese youth (SMD -0.69; 95% CI -0.90 to -0.48; P<0.001), with the strongest effect from exercise alone.
Why the study?
Do supervised lifestyle interventions (diet, exercise, or both) reduce visceral adipose tissue in overweight and obese youth?
Meta-Analysis
Do supervised lifestyle interventions (diet, exercise, or both) reduce visceral adipose tissue in overweight and obese youth?
Standardized Mean Difference: -0.69 (95% CI -0.9–-0.48)
p-value: p=< 0.001
Supervised exercise, either alone or combined with diet, significantly reduces visceral adipose tissue in overweight and obese youth, whereas evidence for diet alone remains insufficient.
Supervised exercise, with or without diet, reduces VAT in obese youth; extends evidence supporting targeted lifestyle interventions to lower cardiometabolic risk.
OBJECTIVE: Excess visceral adipose tissue (VAT) in children with obesity is associated with the development of cardiovascular and metabolic disease. This meta-analysis investigated if lifestyle interventions can reduce VAT in overweight and obese youth. METHODS: Pubmed, Cochrane, and PEDro were searched for clinical trials that objectively assessed VAT and included study arms with supervised diet, exercise, or a combination of both. If there was a no-therapy control group, the data of the control group and the intervention groups were used to meta-analyze the data. In all other cases, the preintervention and the postintervention data were used to meta-analyze. Effect sizes were calculated as standardized mean differences or changes of VAT and expressed as Hedges' g. RESULTS: The overall weighted mean effect size on VAT of all included interventions was -0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.90 to -0.48) (P < 0.001). Subgroup analysis showed that the overall weighted mean effect size of diet-only interventions on VAT was 0.23 (95% CI = -0.22 to 0.68) (P = 0.311). Interventions that combined diet and exercise showed a pooled effect size on VAT of -0.55 (95% CI = -0.75 to -0.39) (P < 0.001). The pooled effect size of exercise-only interventions on VAT was -0.85 (95% CI = -1.20 to -0.57) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Supervised exercise-only or combined diet and exercise interventions can reduce VAT in overweight and obese children and adolescents. The strongest effect was found in exercise-only groups. However, high-quality randomized controlled trials describing the effect of supervised dietary interventions on VAT in children are lacking.
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Vissers et al. (2016) conducted a meta-analysis in Overweight and obese youth. Supervised diet, exercise, or a combination of both vs. No-therapy control or preintervention baseline was evaluated on Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) (SMD -0.69, 95% CI -0.90 to -0.48, p=< 0.001). Supervised lifestyle interventions significantly reduced visceral adipose tissue in overweight and obese youth (SMD -0.69; 95% CI -0.90 to -0.48; P<0.001), with the strongest effect from exercise alone.
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