About the Authors

Edward Archer

archer.edwardc@gmail.com

Affiliation Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Robin P. Shook

Affiliation Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Diana M. Thomas

Affiliation Center for Quantitative Obesity Research, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, United States of America

Timothy S. Church

Affiliation Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America

Peter T. Katzmarzyk

Affiliation Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America

James R. Hébert

Affiliations Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America, Cancer Prevention and Control Program, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Kerry L. McIver

Affiliation Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Gregory A. Hand

Affiliation Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Carl J. Lavie

Affiliation Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute, The University of Queensland School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America

Steven N. Blair

Affiliations Department of Exercise Science, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States of America

Competing Interests

GAH has received consultancy fees from The Coca-Cola Company. TSC receives honoraria for lectures from scientific, educational, and lay groups. TSC has a book entitled "Move Yourself: The Cooper Clinic Medical Director”s Guide to All the Healing Benefits of Exercise." TSC has received unrestricted research funding Cover Letter from The Coca-Cola Company. TSC has overseen study sites for large pharmaceutical trials funded by Sanofi Aventis, Orexigen, Arena and Amylin. TSC is a member of the Jenny Craig Medical Advisory Board and has served as a consultant to Technogym, Trestle Tree, Vivus, Lockton-Dunning and Neuliven Health. In addition, he serves as the Senior Medical Advisor for Catapult Health. DMT has received honoraria for service on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards for Jenny Craig. SNB receives book royalties (<$5,000/year) from Human Kinetics; honoraria for service on the Scientific/Medical Advisory Boards for Clarity, Technogym, Body Media, Santech, and Jenny Craig; and honoraria for lectures and consultations from scientific, educational, and lay groups which are donated to the University of South Carolina or not-for-profit organizations. SNB is a consultant on research projects with the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical School and the University of Miami. During the past 5-year period SNB has received research grants from The Coca-Cola Company and Body-Media. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors” adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Manuscript revision and critique: EA SNB RPS DMT GAH TSC PTK KLM JRH CJL. Conceived and designed the experiments: EA SNB GAH. Performed the experiments: EA. Analyzed the data: EA SNB RPS DMT GAH TSC PTK KLM JRH CJL. Wrote the paper: EA.