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Health Info In The News
 By Rob Wilkins

The following information IS NOT medical advice and is solely intended for information purposes. Please consult your healthcare provider with questions related to the articles below.

PARENTS WANT GYM CLASSES BACK IN SCHOOLS

NEW YORK - In the midst of what health experts are calling an epidemic of obesity among America's children, public schools have trimmed the fat of their curriculum by doing away with physical education (PE) classes. Now a study of more than 1,000 parents nationwide reveals that the scales may be tipping back in favor of mandatory PE. According to the survey released Tuesday at a meeting of the American Obesity Association, 80% of parents do not want gym classes cut to make more time for academics.

Fewer than half of parents surveyed believe that schools are doing a "good" or "excellent" job of teaching lifestyle habits that help kids maintain a healthy weight. Almost 30% of parents said they were "somewhat" or "very" concerned about the weight of their children. "Schools are trying to balance the school budget on the hips of our children," Dr. Judith S. Stern, vice president of the American Obesity Association and director of a clinical nutrition laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health, said in an interview.

Indeed, a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that only one quarter of US public schools require students to take physical education classes, down from 42% in 1991.

Many schools have done away with gym classes in order to make room for academic classes. According to the current survey, 40% of parents blamed television, computers and video games combined with a lack of exercise for the burgeoning rate of childhood obesity. When asked to list the greatest risks to the long-term health of their children, parents were just as likely to cite being overweight or obese (5.6%) as they were to cite alcohol (6.1%). About 27% of parents said their kids do not eat as nutritiously as they did as children, and 24% said their children get less physical activity.

Stern said that in many families both parents work, leaving too little time to oversee the diet and exercise habits of children. Mandatory gym classes could provide an opportunity for daily physical activity, she noted. Results of the study are based on telephone interviews with parents who have children aged 6 to 17 years.

Source: Reuters Health, 12 Sep 00

THE 1990S: A BAD DECADE FOR AMERICA'S WAISTLINE

NEW YORK - Everyone knows Americans are getting larger and larger, but a new report shows that in the 1990s alone, the prevalence of obesity jumped nearly 60%.

Overall, 12% of people were obese in 1991 compared with 19% in 1998, according to a report in the October 4th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. The average US man now weighs 85 kilograms (187 pounds) and the average US woman weighs 68.7 kilograms (151 pounds), according to the 1999 data. In the early 1990s, only 4 of 45 states participating in a survey reported that 15% of people in their state were obese. By the end of the decade, 39 of the 45 states reached that level.

"This continuing trend in obesity is a critical public health threat in the United States," warn Dr. Ali H. Mokdad and colleagues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. "The time has come to develop a national, comprehensive plan to prevent and treat the obesity epidemic."

Without a national plan to address the burgeoning rate of obesity in America, more and more adults can be expected to be diagnosed with chronic disease and die an early death, according to the researchers. The obesity boom of the 1990s appeared to help fuel a 33% increase in the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. "This increase was highly correlated with obesity, and this emphasizes that obesity is not just a cosmetic disorder but a major risk factor for chronic diseases," the CDC researchers write. They note that about 300,000 US adults die of obesity-related causes annually.

Mokdad and colleagues suggest that health departments and communities develop programs to promote nutrition and boost physical activity. Such programs may help obese people to shed pounds and lower the rate of chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.