Fight obesity and keep the kids healthy.It’s always in the papers and on TV – Childhood obesity. It’s in epidemic proportions and not much seems to be slowing it. The great concern is that over weight children lead to overweight adolescents and in turn overweight adults. According to David Menschik, MD, MPH, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore "It is generally accepted that increased physical activity, independent of weight status, has many healthful effects throughout the lifespan, including increased bone mineral density, improved lipid profile, increased cardiovascular endurance, improved glucose metabolism, increased muscle strength, and lower blood pressure. In adolescents, increased physical activity has been linked to lower tobacco and marijuana use, less television watching, higher fruit and vegetable consumption, less depression, closer relationships with parents, and decreased social marginalization.”
One study has found that adolescents who are regularly physically active show less risk of becoming overweight as young adults – doesn’t sound like rocket science right? True, but the study shows some interesting relationships that might help people – teachers and parents alike, to take action and help to prevent their children falling into the overweight category. They found that each weekday that adolescents participated in Physical Education reduced the odds of being an overweight adult by 5%. This is a very clear indication of the importance of school-based activities. How many PE sessions per week does your child or teen participate in?
The authors are very clear about the regularity of PE sessions in maintaining normal adolescent body weight rather than weight reduction. Also they found that activities such as rollerblading, cycling, skateboarding and sports such as baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, swimming, and football were all associated with a lower prevalence of overweight as young adults. Activities such as gymnastics, dancing and jogging and walking didn’t show a strong relationship. Perhaps it is the intensity, competition, duration and the capacity to participate in these activities in a local adult competition in a social setting that sets it over and above the second list.
Essentially the message seems to be that getting kids moving as a part of their everyday routine in sports or activities that they can continue into adulthood is the key to maintaining healthy weight and activity levels and schools seem to have a large role in this. Other studies from the UK (Sacher et al 2006) specifically targeting children are working together with parents to give them the tools to help children change their eating and activity habits and theirs in the process. They have shown significant decreases in waist circumference and body mass index and improvements in their hours of physical activity.
Posted by Christine Armarego
References:
1.Laurie Barclay, Désirée Lie, MD, Brande Nicole Martin Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162:29-33.
2. Sacher PM, Chadwick P, Kolotourou M, Cole TJ, Lawson M, Singhal A. The Mend RCT: Effectiveness on Health Outcomes in Obese Children. International journal of Obesity. 2007 31 S1
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