小児肥満は高率に成人肥満へ移行し動脈硬化性疾患のリスクを増加させるだけでなく，小児期から肥満に関連する健康障害を引き起こすため対策が重要である．運動は肥満の予防や改善に強く関連するが，肥満小児にとって継続が難しい側面もある．運動介入プログラムでなく，自主的な運動の効果について検討した研究は少ない．そこで運動の有効性を明らかにするため，10〜12歳の肥満男児について，自主的な運動の有無により体格指標や生化学的検査に差があるか検討した．スポーツクラブ等に所属し週1回以上継続的に運動を行う群で，ウエスト周囲長，ウエスト身長比，血圧が有意に低かった．内臓脂肪蓄積がメタボリックシンドロームの主体であり，高血圧やインスリン抵抗性等を伴って健康障害をもたらす．内臓脂肪は皮下脂肪よりも運動に鋭敏に反応することから，運動群のウエスト周囲長は少ない内臓脂肪を反映し，血圧の改善にも関与していると考えられた．肥満だと運動に対する苦手意識を持ちやすく，運動効果を実感出来ずに続かない事も多いが，本検討では，体重やBMI Zスコアに差がなくても改善しているパラメーターが認められ，運動を継続的に行うことの有効性が示された．

Childhood obesity has a high probability of transitioning to adult obesity, increasing the risk of arteriosclerosis. In addition, since childhood obesity causes health problems related to obesity from childhood, it is important to address the problem of obesity. Exercise is strongly associated with the prevention and improvement of obesity, but it is often difficult for children with obesity to continue exercising. Therefore, to clarify the effectiveness of continuous and voluntary exercise in boys with obesity aged 10 to 12, we examined whetherthere is a difference in anthropometric index and blood test depending on exercise. Waist circumference length, waist height ratio, and blood pressure were significantly lower in the group who voluntarily exercised at least once a week than that of non-exercise group. Visceral fat accumulation is the main component of metabolic syndrome and causes health problems accompanied by hypertension and insulin resistance. However, visceral fat responds more sensitively to exercise than subcutaneous fat. The waist height ratio of the exercise groupreflected low visceral fat, suggesting that exercise was also associated with improvement in blood pressure. Children with obesity tend to have a weakness in exercise. In addition, they often do not continue exercising unless they can feel the effects of exercising. However, even if there was no difference in body weight or BMI Z score, parameters that were improved by the voluntarysports activities of children with obesity were observed. Therefore, the effectiveness of continuous exercise was shown.