Opinion:
Bill to return PE to schools(in the US)
will help prevent obesity
By Jamie Wallach
Special to the San Jose Mercury
News
December 15, 2009
Pediatricians used to care for sore
throats, earaches and the stomach flu. We
still do, but these days we're seeing far
too many cases of high cholesterol,
increasing waistlines and early signs of
what we used to call adult-onset
diabetes.
There are many causes for the sad state
in which we find ourselves. One important
prescription for change: daily physical
education in our schools.
The FIT Kids Act (Fitness Integrated
with Teaching Kids Act) pending in
Congress would amend the No Child Left
Behind Act to support quality physical
education for all public schoolchildren
through grade 12 and ensure they receive
important health and nutritional
information. We owe a great deal of
gratitude and kudos to our local Congress
members, Reps. Mike Honda, Zoe Lofgren and
Anna Eshoo, for co-sponsoring this
important legislation for our children and
their futures.
Too many schools have had to forgo PE
classes over the years as greater emphasis
has been placed on mandated academic
testing. From 1991 to 2003, enrollment of
high school students in daily PE classes
fell from 41.6 percent to 28.4 percent,
according to the American Heart
Association. High schools now require -
and allow - only two years of PE to
graduate. Some elementary schools do not
have PE at all, and many others may have
one or two days a week funded by the
school PTA.
After age 6, 50 percent of obese
children will remain obese as adults.
Seventy to 80 percent of obese adolescents
will remain obese as adults.
Our children should receive daily,
quality, mandatory physical education and
learn about leading healthy lifestyles.
Besides helping to stem the tide of
childhood obesity, this will enhance
children's academic and emotional
growth.
We have known for 30 years that a lack
of regular physical activity can hurt a
child's academic, social and emotional
development. We now know a lack of regular
physical activity will also cause the
early onset of what we used to think were
diseases that only adults suffered
from.
Consistent fitness is the safest
medication we have, and our kids need it
desperately. We don't have to wait for
research studies to prove fitness is a
safe, effective and economically viable
treatment. It is obvious.
Every day in my practice, I see the
effects physical inactivity and poor
nutrition are having on our young people.
Nearly one of every three American
children is overweight, and in fact,
childhood obesity is now the No. 1 health
concern among parents in the United
States, topping drug abuse and
smoking.
If we continue at this rate, this may
be the first generation of American
children who will not live as long as
their parents. Even more shocking is that,
without successful interventions that can
stem the rise in obesity, one of every
three children born in the year 2000 in
the United States will develop type 2
diabetes.
Arteriosclerosis and other early signs
of heart disease are being seen by
pediatricians and family practitioners at
a frightening, increasing rate. These are
children who will be at risk of a heart
attack in their 20s and 30s, in addition
to the reality of developing diabetes,
hypertension, and a host of medical
problems in early adulthood.
Let's all get behind the FIT Kids Act.
Write your representatives, call them,
talk about the need for regular physical
education in the schools to other parents.
Together, we can make our children's
future better.
Dr. Jamie Wallach is a Log Gatos
physician who works with Bay Are Committed
to Kids, a medically supervised lifestyle
and weight management practice. She can be
reached at (408) 356-6900.
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