Residual effect of muscle strength exercise in secondary prevention of childhood obesity Efecto residual del ejercicio de fuerza muscular en la prevención secundaria de la obesidad infantil

Introduction: The high prevalence of the obesity in Chilean students (23,1%), necessitates the application of interventions that incorporate muscle strength exercise, as this shows great efficacy in obese children. Objective: To evaluate the residual effect of muscle strength exercise on body fat, metabolic syndrome and physical fitness in obese schoolchildren. Methods: The sample included 111 obese schoolchildren, between 8 and 13 years, of 3 schools in the city of Santiago. Early intervention (n = 60) participated in parallel intervention that included muscle strength exercise, nutrition education and psychological support for 3 months. The late intervention (n = 51) incorporated the first 3 months, only the educational intervention and psychological support, and exercise was added between 3 and 6 months. At 9 months post intervention, we evaluated the residual effect of exercise. Body fat was determined by anthropometric equations. The metabolic syndrome was diagnosed by the criter