From rxpgnews.com
Being Overweight Also Has Implications for Behavior and Academic Performance
By Pankaj, US correspondent,
Aug 28, 2004 - 2:43:38 PM
Washington, DC New research finds even one additional hour per week of Physical Education (PE) for five and six year olds, especially girls, can make a significant difference in addressing the incidence of childhood overweight. A Research Brief issued today by the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation (NIHCM Foundation) highlights the first study of its kind on the impact of PE programs on kindergarteners and 1st graders and illustrates the importance of early intervention for this age group. NIHCM Foundation's Obesity in Young Children: Impact and Intervention includes a summary of three peer-reviewed studies conducted by RAND, which are based on longitudinal research of young children, and provides overviews of key programs that are battling childhood overweight.
"This study shows that we have the power to affect positive change on an enormous level," said Nancy Chockley, president of the NIHCM Foundation. "It proves that by systematically incorporating daily physical activity into young children's lives, we can successfully prevent childhood obesity for large populations of kids. Increasing PE time is one of the few solutions in the struggle against overweight that is effective, practical, and can be replicated."
Kindergarteners average only 57 minutes a week in PE classes, increasing to an average of 65 minutes a week in 1st grade, the research found. Wide variations in PE time existed in both grades and among schools, and over 1 in 5 of 1st graders actually have their PE time reduced or completely eliminated after kindergarten. In addition, schools with high proportions of low-income or minority students tended to have the least PE time.
Increasing PE by one hour per week leads to a .31 greater reduction in Body Mass Index (BMI) for overweight elementary school girls. At least five hours of PE time in kindergarten, close to the level recommended by experts, would produce a 43 percent reduction in the prevalence of overweight among young girls, the research projects. About 10 percent of kindergarten girls are overweight today; that would decline to 5.8 percent with at least five hours a week of PE.
In addition, that level of PE could reduce the proportion of kindergarten girls at-risk-for overweight by 60 percent, the researchers project. About 15 percent of kindergarten girls are at-risk-for-overweight today; that would also decline to around 5.8 percent.
"Early intervention is key to stemming the tide in childhood obesity, and I'm pleased that this report highlights the benefits of encouraging exercise and nutrition in young children," said Senator William Frist (R-TN), the U.S. Senate Majority Leader. "Schools can have a significant effect on the health of our children. Students who learn from a young age the benefits of exercise and healthy eating will most likely continue good habits later in life. This is in part why I introduced legislation with Senator Ron Wyden to help encourage schools that implement good health and nutrition programs. Clearly more must be done, but today¹s study is a good start to pinpointing ways we can improve the lives of our children."
The research findings derive from the impact of expanding school PE on BMI, a measure of weight factoring in height. Even small shifts in weight loss of just three to five pounds, for example can shift a significant number of overweight children to "at risk" BMI status and a significant number of "at risk" children to healthy weight and BMI status. (See chart.)
Impact of Small Weight Loss on 6-Year-Old Girls' Overweight Status
Weight
Height
BMI
BMI Percentile
Weight status
65 lbs 4¹ 19.9 > 95th Overweight
57 lbs 4¹ 17.4 87th At-risk-for-overweight
50 lbs 4¹ 15.3 52nd Healthy
The prevalence of overweight in boys exposed to more PE also declined but the results did not reach statistical significance.
"This study shows that educators, working closely with caregivers, policy makers and public health officials, can make a difference and have already begun to implement programs to reverse these troubling trend lines," said Dr. Vincent Ferrandino, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals.
Behavior and Academic Performance
Also highlighted in Obesity in Young Children: Impact and Intervention is research on behavior and academic performance of five and six year olds. Overweight girls at the beginning of kindergarten are significantly more likely to be identified by both parents and teachers as having problems such as: anxiety, loneliness, sadness, low self-esteem, acting out, anger, impulsive acts, and being accepted by peers. The data also indicated that the presence of behavior problems predicted future weight gain among overweight girls. Further, overweight children who did not exhibit behavior problems entering school did not develop them over the course of the study. Other factors like family income and maternal depression were more predictive of the onset of behavior problems.
"Our findings suggest that the home environment plays a very important role in young children¹s behavioral health, academic success as well as obesity," said Ashlesha Datar, Ph.D., one of the authors of the RAND report.
In addition, overweight children tend to score lower on both reading and math standardized tests at the beginning of kindergarten, and their lower scores track into 1st grade. Importantly, overweight boys' lower math scores could not be explained by other factors, such as family education level and income or time spent watching TV. Statistically for boys, excess weight had about the same adverse impact on test scores as watching two extra hours of TV a day.
The findings are based on data from the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS). The ECLS is a nationally representative survey involving 19,173 children who started kindergarten in 1998. The studies used data for approximately 10,000 children in kindergarten and 1st grade. The findings presented in the NIHCM Foundation Research Brief involve the first use of this valuable database to link early childhood weight to PE programs, mental health problems and school test score performance. The findings are published in three academic journals Obesity Research (January 2004 Childhood Overweight and Academic Performance: National Study of Kindergarteners and First-Graders), the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (August 2, 2004 Childhood Overweight and Parent- and Teacher-Reported Behavior Problems) and the American Journal of Public Health (August 30, 2004 Physical Education in Elementary School and Body Mass Index: Evidence From the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study).
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