The effect of national traditional sports on weight loss and blood lipid health of overweight and obese students: Meta analysis

Background The problem of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents around the world is serious, and traditional intervention methods have problems such as poor compliance. Traditional ethnic sports (such as martial arts and tai chi) combined with physical and mental exercise and cultural elements may provide a new way for obesity management, but there is a lack of systematic evaluation. A systematic literature search was conducted in twelve electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, MEDLINE, EBSCO, CINAHL, OVID, Embase, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, CNKI, ProQuest) from inception to March 12, 2025. Randomized controlled trials of ethnic traditional sports interventions in overweight or obese students (age 7.6–23 years; BMI > 23.9 kg/m²) were eligible, yielding twelve RCTs (n = 520). Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane RoB tool. Across 12 RCTs (n = 520), ethnic traditional sports interventions did not significantly alter body weight (WMD = –0.115 kg; 95% CI: –0.30 to 0.07; p = 0.233) or waist circumference (WMD = –0.34 cm; 95% CI: –0.82 to 0.13; p = 0.156), but yielded significant reductions in BMI (WMD = –0.33 kg/m²; 95% CI: –0.60 to –0.06; p = 0.016) and body fat percentage (WMD = –0.31%; 95% CI: –0.52 to –0.10; p = 0.004). In lipid profiles, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased (WMD = 0.33 mmol/L; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.61; p = 0.020), whereas total cholesterol (WMD = –0.01 mmol/L; p = 0.952), triglycerides (WMD = 0.33 mmol/L; p = 0.468) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (WMD = 0.03 mmol/L; p = 0.828) remained unchanged. Subgroup analyses indicated that Chinese traditional exercises (e.g. Tai Chi, Kung Fu) produced more pronounced reductions in BMI and body fat than other modalities.

National traditional sports can effectively improve the BMI, body fat rate and HDL-C level of overweight and obese students. It is a potential intervention method. In the future, it is necessary to further standardize the program and expand the research sample. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Funding Statement The author(s) received no specific funding for this work. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.