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The International Consensus Conference on Physical Activity Guidelines for Adolescents convened to review the effects of physical activity on the health of adolescents, to establish age-appropriate physical activity guidelines, and to consider how these guidelines might be implemented in primary health care settings. Thirty-four invited experts and representatives of scientific, medical, and governmental organizations established two main guidelines. First, all adolescents should be physically active daily or nearly every day as part of their lifestyles. Second, adolescents should engage in three or more sessions per week of activities that last 20 min or more and that require moderate to vigorous levels of exertion. Available data suggest that the vast majority of U.S. adolescents meet the first guideline, but only about two thirds of boys and one half of girls meet the second guideline. Physical activity has important effects on the health of adolescents, and the promotion of regular physical activity should be a priority for physicians and other health professionals.

This study examined the relationship between intrapersonal correlates and being sufficiently active for health benefits in youth and adolescents (12-17 years of age). Participants completed questionnaires that assessed physical activity in the form of energy expenditure and intrapersonal correlates. Being in the sufficiently active group (> 8 kcal per day per kg of body weight) was associated with engaging in a greater array of physical activities, reporting greater levels of health, reporting a better home life, and spending less time in sedentary activities. The results provided preliminary evidence that selected intrapersonal correlates were associated with youth and adolescents who were sufficiently active to attain health benefits.

The present study examines whether the correlates of physical activity relevant to sufficiently active youth and adolescents differed as a function of type (structured or unstructured) of physical activity. Participants completed measures of physical activity and activity correlates. The most frequently cited correlates were enjoyment, friends’ participation, and friends’ support. Significant differences were found across type of activity for enjoyment, perceived competence, parental support, coaches’ support, and friends’ participation. The results provide insight into the correlates of physical activity in this population and provide preliminary evidence that different correlates may be associated with different activities.

The authors tested the feasibility and acceptability, and explored the outcomes, of 2 walking interventions based on ecological models among older adults living in retirement communities. An enhanced intervention (EI) was compared with a standard walking intervention (SI) among residents in 4 retirement facilities (N = 87 at baseline; mean age = 84.1 yr). All participants received a walking intervention including pedometers, printed materials, and biweekly group sessions. EI participants also received phone counseling and environmental-awareness components. Measures included pedometer step counts, activities of daily living, environment-related variables, physical function, depression, cognitive function, satisfaction, and adherence. Results indicated improvements among the total sample for step counts, neighborhood barriers, cognitive function, and satisfaction with walking opportunities. Satisfaction and adherence were high. Both walking interventions were feasible to implement among facility-dwelling older adults. Future studies can build on this multilevel approach.

The flavonoid quercetin is purported to have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study examined if quercetin supplementation attenuates indicators of exercise-induced muscle damage in a doubleblind laboratory study. Thirty healthy subjects were randomized to quercetin (QU) or placebo (PL) supplementation and performed 2 separate sessions of 24 eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors. Muscle strength, soreness, resting arm angle, upper arm swelling, serum creatine kinase (CK) activity, plasma quercetin (PQ), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were assessed before and for 5 d after exercise. Subjects then ingested nutrition bars containing 1,000 mg/d QU or PL for 7 d before and 5 d after the second exercise session, using the opposite arm. PQ reached 202 ± 52 ng/ml after 7 d of supplementation and remained elevated during the 5-d postexercise recovery period (p < .05). Subjects experienced strength loss (peak = 47%), muscle soreness (peak = 39 ± 6 mm), reduced arm angle (–7° ± 1°), CK elevations (peak = 3,307 ± 1,481 U/L), and arm swelling (peak = 11 ± 2 mm; p < .0001), indicating muscle damage and inflammation; however, differences between treatments were not detected. Eccentric exercise did not alter plasma IL-6 (peak = 1.9 pg/ml) or CRP (peak = 1.6 mg/L) relative to baseline or by treatment. QU supplementation had no effect on markers of muscle damage or inflammation after eccentric exercise of the elbow flexors.