An advocacy group for physical education released a blueprint last week for tackling the problem of childhood obesity, which a new study suggests is associated with an increase in high blood pressure among young Americans.
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Known as P.E.4LIFE, the national organization outlined a plan that includes: revitalizing schools鈥� physical education programs by making exercise more fun for children through a 10-step 鈥渂lueprint for change"; lobbying for more federal funding for the group鈥檚 physical education grant program, which received $70 million from Congress for the current fiscal year; and firmly establishing a Center for the Advancement of Physical Education within the next two years.
鈥淚f you look closely at what鈥檚 happening today, it鈥檚 starting to get scary,鈥� said Jeff Blumenfeld, a spokesman for the Washington- based P.E.4LIFE, which was formed in 2000 and promotes daily high-quality physical education for children. 鈥淔or the first time,鈥� he said, 鈥渒ids鈥� life expectancy could be shorter than their parents鈥�. ... Before, we were focused on [preventing] smoking. Now, we have to focus on obesity as the problem.鈥�
New Research
The group鈥檚 plan for physical education was announced in Washington on May 5, the same day a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that connects the rise of childhood obesity in the United States with the increase of high blood pressure among the nation鈥檚 children and adolescents.
Although the study says that confirmation of the findings is needed, it predicts that since the rate of overweight children continues to climb, so will the occurrence of hypertension in children. It also calls for, among other steps, 鈥渋ncreased physical activity鈥� to help halt the problem.
The study, by researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans and the Bethesda, Md.-based National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, examined the results from two National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys focusing on more than 5,000 children ages 8 to 17 over seven years.
