Underserved Minority Children Are Not Meeting The Moderate-To-Vigorous Physical Activity (Mvpa) Recommendation

Childhood obesity is more prevalent among underserved minority children. It is recommended that children should spend a minimal of 60 min/d in MVPA in order to maintain a healthy body weight. Based on a minimal of 5 days of Actical measurements, we quantified the amount of MVPA in 483 underserved minority children (10.3±1.0 y; 51.1% male; 31.1% Black/68.9% Hispanic; 66% overweight or obese) who took part in our community childhood obesity intervention program (Healthy Kids‐Houston). The majority of children (89.4%) were in the reduced cost/free meal program and 71.1% had no health insurance or were insured under programs for low‐income families. The children spent more time on MVPA (p<0.01) on weekdays (46.8±1.2 min/d, mean±SE) than on weekend days (41.0±1.6 min/d). Time spent on MVPA decreased with age (−5 min/d per y, p< 0.01) with boys spending more time (12.6 min/d, p<0.01) in MVPA than girls. Black children also spent more time on MVPA (6 min/d, p=0.03) than Hispanic children. MVPA also decreased with BMI z‐score (p<0.01). Most alarmingly, the majority of children (76.4%) spent less than 60 min/d on MVPA. Therefore, to combat childhood obesity, public and private resources should be invested to promote MVPA and to enhance the environment for underserved, minority children. National Research Initiative of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant #2008‐55215‐18875 and USDA/ARS grant #6250‐51000‐053. Clinical trial: NCT00994084.