童年期活跃可能提升成年后运动效率

宾州州立大学研究人员的最新研究表明，在成长期间保持活跃可能会对成年后的运动效率产生终身影响。1该研究通过珍珠鸡实验发现，在成长期间习惯于承重的鸟类在成年后携带相同重量时无需消耗额外能量，而未经训练的鸟类则多消耗23%的能量。1

研究人员从珍珠鸡2周龄追踪至16周龄，其中6只鸟在腿上佩戴铅制腕带（占体重4%），另外6只作为对照组不负重。1实验结果显示，承重组鸟类成年后携带负重时能量消耗无增加，而对照组增加23%。1

宾州州立大学运动学系的Jonas Rubenson教授指出："如果人们成年后移动不需要消耗那么多能量，那么运动及其所有健康益处对他们来说会更容易获得。这可能对我们国家许多方面的福祉产生影响，从心脏健康到心理健康。"1该研究已发表在《皇家学会生物科学学报》上，并获得了美国国立卫生研究院下属关节炎和肌肉骨骼和皮肤病国家研究所的资金支持。1

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have discovered that maintaining physical activity during childhood could have lasting effects on exercise efficiency in adulthood 1. Through experiments with guinea fowl, the team found that birds accustomed to carrying weight during their growth period—from two to sixteen weeks of age—required no additional energy to carry the same load as adults, compared to untrained birds 1.

The study involved twelve guinea fowl divided into two groups: six birds wore lead leg bands weighing four percent of their body weight, while six control birds remained unweighted 1. When tested as adults, the trained group showed zero percent increase in energy expenditure when carrying additional weight, whereas the untrained birds required twenty-three percent more energy to perform the same task 1. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B 1.

"If people don't need to expend as much energy moving around as adults, then exercise and all of its health benefits would be more accessible to them," said Jonas Rubenson, a professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Penn State, explaining that such improvements could influence wellbeing across multiple areas including cardiovascular and mental health 1. The research was supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, an institute of the National Institutes of Health 1.