ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Research and Prevention of Overweight and Obesity in YouthView all 10 articles
Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training Combined with Dietary Intervention on Body Composition, Cardiovascular Function, Endothelial Cell Function and Blood Lipid Indexes in children with Obesity:A Randomized Controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport, Gdańsk, Poland
- 2Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
- 3Uniwersytet WSB Merito w Gdansku, Gdańsk, Poland
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Objective: To investigate the combined effects of moderate-intensity continuous training(MICT), high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and HIIT combined with dietary intervention on body composition, cardiovascular function, and endothelial cell function (as assessed by biomarkers including endothelin-1 and nitric oxide) in overweight children aged 9–12 years with a BMI ≥23 kg/m². Methods: Methods A total of 90 overweight children were randomly assigned into three groups with a 1:1 gender ratio. The combined intervention group received both HIIT and a diet plan designed by a registered dietitian. Pairwise comparisons were analyzed using the Bonferroni post hoc test.Body composition, cardiovascular function, endothelial function, and blood lipid profiles were measured before and after the intervention. Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used for pairwise comparisons to examine the effects of intervention type (MICT, HIIT-only, Joint Intervention) and time (pre- and post-intervention) on each outcome. Results: After the intervention, all three groups showed significant reductions in body mass index and fat mass. Intergroup comparisons revealed that the Joint Intervention group demonstrated superior improvements in body composition indicators. In contrast, heart rate (HR) and sympathetic nervous response (TCR) were lower in the Joint Intervention group compared to the HIIT-only group, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). Post-intervention, endothelin-1 (ET-1) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels were lower in the Joint Intervention group than in the HIIT-only group. However, flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were higher in the Joint Intervention group compared to the HIIT-only group, with significant differences (p < 0.05). The Joint Intervention group also showed greater improvements in waist circumference, body mass index (BMI), and blood lipid profiles compared to the HIIT-only group, with statistically significant differences (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The combination of high-intensity interval training and dietary intervention promotes fat reduction, enhances antioxidant capacity, and improves cardiorespiratory function in overweight children. This integrated approach effectively improves body mass index, cardiovascular function, and endothelial cell function. The remarkable efficacy of this combined intervention suggests its potential value for clinical application and integration into school-based programs aimed at addressing childhood obesity.
Keywords: Moderate-intensity continuous training, High-intensity interval training, DietaryIntervention, HIIT combined with dietary intervention on body composition, overweightchildren
Received: 07 Sep 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Meng, Liu and Lipowski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mariusz Lipowski, mariusz.lipowski@gdansk.merito.pl
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