Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)
October 6, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Frequent Versus Single Active Bouts Differentially Affect Movement Behavior and Energy Balance in Adults With Overweight/Obesity.
Santo Andre HC, Le Roux E, De Jong NP, +10 more, Bergouignan A
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Breaking up sitting with several short brisk walks cut prolonged sedentary time, while energy expenditure rose similarly to one longer walk.
What was studied
Randomized trial of 30 overweight or obese adults doing multiple 5-minute walks or one 45-minute walk five days a week for six weeks, with accelerometry and doubly labeled water.
Key findings
- Only the short-bout group reduced prolonged sedentary time
- Both groups increased moderate-to-vigorous activity and total energy expenditure
- The single-bout group had small increases in body and fat mass versus the break group
- No differences in energy intake, appetite or leptin
Clinical relevance
Clinicians counseling patients with obesity can offer frequent short walks as an equivalent, practical option.
Who should care
Limitations
Only 30 participants over six weeks limits power and long-term conclusions.
Encourage several short brisk walks through the day.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to investigate the effects of breaking up sedentary behavior (SB) on daily movement behavior and energy balance in adults with overweight/obesity.
METHODS
Thirty participants (16F/14M; 34.2 ± 7.3 years; 29.5 ± 3.2 kg/m) were randomized to either BREAK (multiple 5-min brisk walking bouts) or a duration-matched intervention, ONE (45-min brisk walking), performed 5 days/week for 6 weeks. At pre- and post-intervention, daily SB and physical activity (PA; accelerometry), body composition (doubly labeled water [DLW]), total daily energy expenditure (TDEE; DLW), appetite, and fasting leptin were measured. Linear mixed-effects models tested time effects and group-by-time interactions.
RESULTS
Only BREAK reduced prolonged SB (interaction: p = 0.043). Both groups shifted SB-PA composition toward greater moderate-to-vigorous PA, with proportional reductions in SB and light PA (time: all p ≤ 0.011). These changes in PA level were associated with increased TDEE (time: p = 0.040). ONE showed small increases in body and fat mass compared with BREAK (interaction: both p ≤ 0.061). No differences were noted in metabolizable energy intake, appetite, or leptin levels.
CONCLUSIONS
Spreading short PA bouts throughout the day increases moderate-to-vigorous PA and TDEE to the same extent as a traditional continuous PA bout. Future studies should investigate whether the modest body composition changes observed across interventions are driven by distinct behavioral/physiological compensations influenced by the daily pattern of PA/SB.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02998892.
DOI
10.1002/oby.70310
PMID
42838926
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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