Prevalence and risk factors of abdominal obesity in Polish rural children.

Secular trends of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference indicate greater increase in abdominal obesity compared to general obesity. Determinants of obesity described by BMI are relatively well documented in various populations, unlike abdominal obesity described by waist-to-height ratio (WHtR). The aim of the study was to determine prevalence and abdominal obesity (WHtR) risk factors in a cohort of 3048 rural children aged 7-12 years from southern Poland. Biological, socio-demographic and lifestyle factors were analysed, and odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated using a logistic regression analysis. The prevalence of abdominal obesity in rural boys and girls in the sample was 11% and 9% respectively. Obesity in both parents, irregular breakfasts, irregular meals during the day and regularly consumed tea were significant factors of abdominal obesity risks in rural girls. Being the only child, low number of people in a household, obesity in both parents, high energy-dense food index and no exercise significantly increased the risk of abdominal obesity in rural boys. The study demonstrated tendencies similar to other European countries in the prevalence of abdominal obesity among sexes. Lifestyle behaviours should be changed and adapted to each sex since risk factors differ between the sexes and indicate higher eco-sensitivity in boys.

Effect of creatine malate supplementation on physical performance, body composition and selected hormone levels in spinters and long-distance runners.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to determine whether creatine malate (CML) supplementation results in similar ergogenic effect in sprinters and long-distance runners. The other goal was to compare changes in body composition, physical performance and hormone levels after six-week training in athletes, divided into subgroups supplemented with creatine malate or taking placebo. RESULTS: Six-week supplementation combined with physical training induced different effects in athletes. Significantly higher increases in relative and absolute peak power and total work (p < 0.05) were found in sprinters compared to other groups. Except for growth hormone, post-exercise venous blood serum hormone levels exhibited no statistically significant differences in athletes. After CML loading period, a significant increase in growth hormone was found in the group of sprinters. CONCLUSIONS: A significant ergogenic effect was found in sprinters, which was reflected by the increase in anaerobic exercise indices and morphological indices and elevated growth hormone level, after graded exercise testing. The significant increase in the distance covered during graded test was only observed in supplemented long-distance runners, whereas no significant changes in maximal oxygen uptake, relative peak power and relative total work were noticed. This could be caused by later anaerobic threshold appearance in exercise test to exhaustion.

Comparison of physiological reactions and physiological strain in healthy men under heat stress in dry and steam heat saunas.

The aim of the paper was to follow up major physiological reactions, provoked by heat stress during dry and wet sauna baths. A physical strain index and subjective estimation of heat comfort of subjects who had not taken sauna baths before was also evaluated. Ten healthy males aged 25-28 underwent a dry sauna bath and then after a one-month break they underwent a steam sauna bath. Each time, they entered the sauna chamber 3 times for 15 minutes with five-minute breaks. During breaks they cooled their bodies with a cold shower and then rested in a sitting position. Before and after the baths, body mass and blood pressure were measured. Rectal temperature and heart rate were monitored during the baths. The physiological strain index (PSI) and cumulative heat strain index (CHSI) were calculated. Subjects assessed heat comfort by Bedford's scale. Greater body mass losses were observed after the dry sauna bath compared to the wet sauna (-0.72 vs. -0.36 kg respectively). However, larger increases in rectal temperature and heart rate were observed during the wet sauna bath (38.8% and 21.2% respectively). Both types of sauna baths caused elevation of systolic blood pressure, but changes were greater after the dry one. Diastolic pressure was reduced similarly. Subjective feelings of heat comfort as well as PSI (4.83 ± 0.29 vs. 5.7 ± 0.28) and CHSI (76.3 ± 18.4 vs. 144.6 ± 21.7) were greater during the wet sauna bath. It can be concluded that due to high humidity and reduction of thermoregulation mechanisms, the wet sauna is more stressful for the organism than the dry sauna, where the temperature is higher with low humidity. Both observed indexes (PSI and CHSI) could be appropriate for objective assessment of heat strain during passive heating of the organism.