New grounds shows that short, aggravated HIIT workouts tin present large wellness benefits for obese teens, improving fitness, humor pressure, and cholesterol, moreover if nan standard doesn’t change.
Study: The effect of high-intensity interval training connected health-related outcomes successful obese adolescents: a systematic reappraisal and meta-analysis. Image credit: BAZA Production/Shutterstock.com
Exercise and a balanced and nutritious fare are cardinal to a patient lifestyle. A caller systematic reappraisal published successful Frontiers successful Physiology examined nan effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) connected wellness successful obese teenagers.
Introduction
Obesity successful adolescence creates beingness and affectional difficulties, including cardiometabolic risk, depression, mediocre assemblage image, and debased self-esteem. The number of overweight individuals betwixt 5 and 19 years of property crossed 390 cardinal successful 2022. This accounts for 20% of group successful this demographic, up from 8% successful 1990.
Exercise and fare person proven effective successful countering overweight successful nan 11-19 property group. Smartphone-based interventions person besides been associated pinch amended outcomes from weight guidance programs successful this group.
HIIT tin beryllium mixed pinch dietary and behavioral approaches to get nan astir retired of workout interventions. This strategy involves short but aggravated spurts of vigorous workout pinch lower-intensity betterment phases successful between. Since teenagers typically person a packed schedule pinch school, sports, and societal commitments and (often) reduced information to exercise, HIIT could beryllium a valuable attack for this group, successful opposition to accepted moderate-intensity continuous training.
Some benefits of HIIT see needing little workout while offering conscionable arsenic bully aliases moreover amended fitness, reducing assemblage fat, improving metabolic health, and expanding aerobic capacity. Additionally, HIIT has an anti-inflammatory effect connected nan body. Prior investigation has linked it to favorable adipokine changes, including higher omentin-1. This operation of effects appears to amended metabolic regulatory usability further.
HIIT besides reduces humor unit and increases VO2peak, indicating improved cardiorespiratory fittingness successful this population. However, conflicting information person prompted this existent systematic review.
About nan study
The researchers searched 4 databases for randomized controlled tests (RCTs) connected this topic. They focused connected nan effect of specified workout connected assemblage usability successful this group.
There were 11 articles that fulfilled nan eligibility criteria, covering a full of 611 participants. They were classified arsenic controls (283) and involution groups (328), aged betwixt 11 and 17 years.
The studies covered aggregate continents, including Poland and Denmark successful Europe, China successful Asia, South Africa, nan USA, and Brazil successful South America. Some bias was observed; for example, allocation concealment was unclear successful ~38% of studies, and smaller proportions showed capacity bias, attrition bias, aliases reporting bias, partially owed to mini sample sizes, capacity bias related to improper blinding, and attrition bias.
Small sample size could person introduced bias because of random errors and constricted statistical power. Since nan participants came from obesity clinics and schools, this could person contributed to heterogeneity successful studies.
In nan erstwhile case, adjacent monitoring and master consultants are nan norm. In contrast, a much mostly qualified training unit whitethorn deficiency nan specialized training required for this circumstantial group successful nan second case. The geographical mounting could besides person contributed to differences successful nan standardization of HIIT protocols, whether owed to section attitudes, scarcity of resources, aliases nan deficiency of trained professionals.
Study findings
HIIT importantly reduced assemblage fat percent successful obese teenagers, while improving VO2peak, a measurement of aerobic capacity. This has been associated pinch amended cardiovascular fitness, metabolic health, and insulin sensitivity.
High-density lipoprotein (‘good’ cholesterol) besides accrued pinch HIIT, while nan systolic humor unit decreased. Surprisingly, location was nary important simplification successful nan assemblage wide scale (BMI), possibly because nan summation successful musculus insubstantial offset nan simplification of fat wide successful nan body.
When nan researchers examined nan building of nan workout protocols much closely, they recovered that HIIT performed doubly a week was peculiarly effective. This wave was linked pinch improvements successful BMI, greater reductions successful assemblage fat percentage, and gains successful aerobic capacity. The sessions included successful nan studies were 1–30 minutes aliases 30–60 minutes, depending connected nan protocol. This variety suggests that shorter and longer HIIT sessions tin beryllium effective, provided nan training is done consistently.
The contiguous benefits of HIIT astir apt stem from improved cardiorespiratory and metabolic fittingness mediated by amended insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial biogenesis. Long-term compliance and benefits person not been arsenic studied. Longer periods of HIIT are astir apt required to let nan assemblage to accommodate much durably to nan training and for wont formation. Participant retention remains a unrecorded problem successful this area.
Conclusions
HIIT does not look to importantly trim BMI successful obese teenagers. However, it improves assemblage fat percent and increases aerobic capacity. Increased HDL improved nan humor cholesterin profile, while systolic humor unit fell. These changes foretell reduced cardiovascular consequence pinch HIIT successful obese adolescents.
Overall, nan findings item nan imaginable of HIIT arsenic an effective involution for improving assemblage creation and cardiovascular wellness successful obese adolescents, though its effect connected BMI appears minimal.
The important differences betwixt studies support further investigation earlier nan findings tin beryllium generalized. Future activity should place nan champion HIIT protocols and measure nan semipermanent wellness outcomes truthful that optimal recommendations tin beryllium rolled retired for this group of at-risk individuals.
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Journal reference:
- Xu, G., Li, Q., Yang, Q. et al. (2025). The effect of high-intensity interval training connected health-related outcomes successful obese adolescents: a systematic reappraisal and meta-analysis. Frontiers successful Physiology. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2025.1609818. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2025.1609818/full