- Pupils' weight and fitness details are being added to
school reports in the US, in an effort to reduce obesity levels.
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- The scheme, being piloted in Boston, has already made
parents twice as likely to set weight-control programmes for their children,
a study suggests.
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- The US government recently revealed 15% of six to 19
year olds were severely overweight or obese - double the rate 20 years
ago.
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- Health campaigners have blamed an increasingly fatty,
fast food-based diet and a reduction in children's activity levels.
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- 'We need to think'
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- Robert McGowan, head of physical education in Boston,
said: "Parents who received health and fitness report cards were almost
twice as likely to know or acknowledge that their child was actually overweight
than those parents who did not get a report card."
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- The rise in childhood obesity is believed to have caused
higher rates of diseases, such as diabetes, in adulthood.
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- Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged doctors
to measure young people's weights.
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- Paediatrician Dr Frederick Rivara said: "We really
need to think about interventions during childhood and adolescence, not
only to prevent childhood obesity but also to prevent adult obesity."
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- The Boston study, published in Archives of Pediatrics
and Adolescent Medicine, looked at 1,396 students at four elementary schools
in 2001-2.
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- Health report cards were sent at the end of the academic
year to 481 parents, including those with normal weight children.
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- Afterwards, 42% of parents of those deemed overweight
said they were planning to set up a programme of physical activities.
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- Meanwhile, 25% said they would consult a doctor and 19%
said they would improve their children's diets.
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- Among parents of overweight pupils who did not receive
cards, just 13% reported doing any of those activities.
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- While some children were uncomfortable with the report-card
programme, most parents responded favourably, the study found.
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- © BBC MMIII
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3143991.stm
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