Yoga as a complementary therapy for obesity prevention in childhood and adolescent obesity

Abstract

Background: Obesity is still one of the most serious health risks facing today's children and adolescents. Yoga has grown in popularity in the United States, and it appears to be a promising way to help adults with weight loss and management. However, research on yoga programmes aimed at weight loss in children or adolescents is limited. Objectives: The current study provided a systematic review of yoga-based interventions for weight loss in children and adolescents who were overweight or obese. Methods: The authors performed a systematic review of articles obtained from the databases Alt HealthWatch, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, PubMed, and Web of Science. Inclusion criteria were studies that used yoga as a primary component, targeted overweight or obese children or adolescents, measured body weight or BMI as an outcome, used any type of study design, and were published in English-language peer-reviewed journals. Results: The inclusion criteria were met by nine studies in total. The majority of studies (n = 5) were conducted in the United States and implemented in schools (n = 5). Three of the studies examined were randomized controlled trials, and two had attrition rates approaching 50%.