From the ArcaMax Publishing, Parents Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/parents/s-637862-580607
AUSTIN, Texas (UPI) -- Prevention programs may be the best way to
fight child obesity, U.S. researchers said.
A study examining regional changes in child obesity between 2000-2005,
published in the journal Obesity, found a local obesity prevention
program combining state and local community nutrition and exercise
programs with media attention, and an evidence-based school health
approach in the El Paso, Texas, region, was most effective statewide
in decreasing childhood obesity.
The El Paso fourth graders had a decrease of 13 percent in obesity
prevalence.
"Data from the El Paso region show us that obesity prevention efforts,
when implemented on a broad scale, can be successful," study leader
Deanna Hoelscher of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy
Living, Austin, Texas, said in a statement.
Hoelscher said the results of the study -- called SPAN, or Schools
Physical Activity and Nutrition -- illustrated the importance of
measuring prevalence at the local level rather than relying on
national or state estimates to monitor trends.