These findings suggest that AST should be promoted to increase PA levels in children and adolescents and that cycling to/ from school is associated with increased cardiovascular fitness .
BACKGROUND The impact of  active school transport ( AST )  on daily physical activity ( PA ) levels , body composition and cardiovascular fitness remains unclear .
Diet, Screen Time, Physical Activity, and Childhood Overweight in the General Population and in High Risk Subgroups: Prospective Analyses in the PIAMA Birth Cohort
Objective . To prospect ively identify behavioral risk factors for childhood overweight and to assess their relevance in high risk sub groups ( children of mothers with overweight or low education ) . Methods . In the PIAMA birth cohort ( n = 3963 ) , question naire data  were obtained at ages 5  and 7 on “ screen time ” , walking or cycling to school , playing outside , sports club membership , fast food consumption , snack consumption and soft drink consumption . Weight and height were measured at age 8 years . Results . Screen time , but none of the other hypothesized behavioral factors , was associated with overweight ( aOR 1.4 ( CI : 1.2–1.6 ) ) . The adjusted population attributable risk fraction for screen time > 1 hr/day was 10 % in the high risk and 17 % in the low risk sub groups . Conclusion . Reduction of screen time to < 1 hr/day could result in a reduction of overweight prevalence in the order of 2 percentage points in both high and low risks sub groups
These findings suggest that AST should be promoted to increase PA levels in children and adolescents and that cycling to/ from school is associated with increased cardiovascular fitness .
BACKGROUND The impact of  active school transport ( AST )  on daily physical activity ( PA ) levels , body composition and cardiovascular fitness remains unclear .