Donna Spruijt-Metz, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, will present an overview of the KNOWME NETWORKS study — a program to develop a Mobile Body Area Network that monitors obesity indicators in minority youth.

The network, developed in conjunction with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, will use a set of wearable wireless sensors that measure physical activity, stress, location in time and space, body fat and a number of other factors. Data will be immediately transmitted to a secure server for storage and analyses. The KNOWME device will be calibrated for the specific user, and researchers will be able to “ping” a participant who remains sedentary for too long, Spruijt-Metz says.

Her presentation includes findings of a study led by colleague Michael I. Goran, Ph.D., professor of preventive medicine, physiology and biophysics and pediatrics, and director of the USC Childhood Obesity Research Center at the Keck School of Medicine. The study looks at the impact of a computer-based education program on promoting physical activity in fourth-grade students.

Two Los Angeles County schools used interactive CD-ROMS for an eight-week long health curriculum, while two control schools received educational CD-ROMS not related to health. Researchers found that the program had a significant impact on obesity reduction in girls, but not in boys.

The results reflect the fact that girls and boys have very different activity levels and attitudes about activity, and that interventions will need to be tailored more specifically, Spruijt-Metz says. However, she believes the study also indicates that technology is an important tool in preventing obesity in youth.

“Technology gives us more objective and reliable measures than self-reporting,” she says. “It is particularly appealing because it offers immediate feedback and will allow interventionists and health professionals to respond directly to the child’s behavior as part of the intervention.”

Provided schools are given a choice on using this new technology then I think this is a good idea. It has the same ambitions as my Zippeddy project.

AN Aylesbury fitness guru has turned entrepreneur by setting up her own business which aims to get young people fit and healthy using alternative fitness programmes.Kate Wells, 24, of Watermead, set up Wikidz exercise and fitness company with the ultimate aim of getting the Vale’s children fit and keeping them that way for life.

As the Government continues to try and tackle the issue of childhood obesity, the pressure is on for schools to provide more opportunities for youngsters to participate in physical activities as well as eating a balanced, healthy diet. This, Miss Wells believes, is where her company Wikidz comes in. She set up the company with business partner and ex-army fitness expert Karl Rowley in October 2008 and feels the time is right to start changing the mindsets of parents and youngsters alike.

For the next two weeks at the William Harding School in Aylesbury, Miss Wells will be teaching her ‘Team Energy’ programme to Year 3 pupils. Team Energy is just one of three programmes which include Team Combat and Team Jam which are tailored for different age groups. The programmes use fast-paced music, dance, martial art techniques, circuits, relays, aerobics and team games to keep 5-16 year olds active and interested.

With 17 percent of US children between ages 2 and 19 classified as obese, new research shows that parents may not be recognizing their own children’s risk factors. A new study shows that parents are likely to misperceive their child’s weight – especially those parents who are overweight themselves.

This reminds me of a NewsRadio segment I was listening to the other day. A children’s health expert (I forgot his name) and he made the argument that it’s a case of “monkey see, monkey do.” A child will pick up the unhealthy habits of parents. The best way is to help your child is to lead by example.

It is thus unfortunate that legislators in georgia have passed a bill, called the Student Health and Physical Education Act, mandates that school provide annual assessments on children’s physical fitness and wellness:

Local legislators said that there are better things the Georgia General Assembly could be doing rather trying to regulate childhood obesity.

House Bill (H.B. 229) passed the Georgia House and is now headed to the Senate. The bill, called the Student Health and Physical Education Act, mandates that school provide annual assessments on children’s physical fitness and wellness.

It also mandates the results be put in a report to the governor and that there be a recognition program.

A similar bill failed last year in the Georgia General Assembly because officials were allowed to take body mass measurements. That wasn’t a part of this bill, but could be included later.

Sixteenth District Rep. Rick Crawford (D-Cedartown) voted against the bill, saying it was “yet another requirement” the state is putting on local systems.

“It mandates they do certain things,” he said. “I’m fine with them doing those things if the local boards decide they need them.”

State Sen. Bill Heath said he likes to reserve his comment until he sees the bill. However, he is dubious about its intentions.

“Our teachers need to focus on educating our children, not weighing them. My first priority is to see us move up in education from 49th in the nation,” Heath said.

The gene variant most strongly associated with childhood obesity and adult morbid obesity in the study is located near the PTER gene, the function of which is not known. This variant is estimated to account for up to a third of all childhood obesity, and a fifth of all cases of adult obesity.

The second variant associated with child and adult obesity is found in the NPC1 gene. Previous studies in mice have suggested that this gene has a role in controlling appetite, as mice with a non-functioning NPC1 gene suffer late-onset weight loss and have poor food intake. This gene variant accounts for around 10 per cent of all childhood obesity and about 14 per cent of adult morbid obesity cases.

The final variant is found near the MAF gene, which controls the production of the hormones insulin and glucagon, as well as chains of amino acids called glucagon-like peptides. These hormones and peptides are known to play key roles in people’s metabolisms by metabolising glucose and carbohydrates in the body. In addition, glucagon and glucagon-like peptides appear to have a strong effect on people’s ability to feel ‘full’ or satiated after eating. This variant accounts for about 6 per cent of early-onset obesity in children, and 16 per cent of adult morbid obesity.

Further research is needed to determine whether the gene variants are acting independently, but if they are, then together these three new variations may account for up to half of all cases of severe adult and child obesity.

Professor Tim Olds, from Uni SA, says one in five children is still battling with weight issues, but that is no greater than a decade ago.

“If you had a look at the data until certainly the early 2000s and you put them all together, it really did look as if things were increasing exponentially - there was a runaway increase in overweight and obesity,” he said.

“So it’s not that these people misinterpreted the data, it’s just that recent data has shown a change in the pattern.

“When we put all those studies together, and they encompass about 70-80,000 children, what we noticed was there was a very clear flattening out of the prevalence the rate of overweight and obesity in children, it started in the late 90s and it’s continued until today.”

Professor Olds was quick to point out that the survey did not mean childhood obesity was not a serious problem in Australia.

I have to take issue with ABC Online’s headline: “Rising childhood obesity a myth: study.” I saw no mention Professor Olds that rising childhood obesity levels are a myth - he still acknowledges that it is still a problem. So it’s not surprising that we get the counter headline and article not two hours later:

Childhood obesity no myth: health expert

Director of the Public Health Advocacy Institute of W-A, Mike Daube says the claims are ludicrous.

He says childhood obesity is still a serious problem and now fears people could become complacent.

“Of course it can’t keep increasing exponentially, you know there comes a stage where it has to plateau out but if it’s plateauing out at the height of Everest rather than the height of Bluff Knoll then we need to do something about it,” he said.

“There is are real risk that we say, well the problem isn’t increasing as fast as it was so there isn’t a problem and that’s the wrong way to look at it.

“What we need to say is we have a massive problem if it’s plateauing that’s encouraging but we still have an obesity epidemic.”

Spot the difference? There is none really, both Daube and Olds agree that it’s still a problem.

Earlier articles on obesity levelling off here and here.

Baylor College of Medicine has been awarded a $1.5 million grant for research related to obesity in children.

The Human Nutrition and Obesity Program grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Research Institute.

Researchers will evaluate a community program to be held in Houston aimed at prevention of obesity among high-risk children.

“Healthy Kids–Houston” will hold three six-week sessions for minority children ages 9 to 13 that will include physical activity, nutrition education and behavioral lessons at various Houston Parks and Recreation Department community centers.

The program is a partnership between Baylor, Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority and Texas Children’s Hospital, including Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates.

With the myriad of child obesity programs out there, it is important that we have some independent research performed (such as the one above) on programs to ensure it’s effectiveness and efficiency. While I still believe that parents are in the best place to decide what’s best for their children, this sort of oversight can offer some level of transparency into public health funding.

The recent release of the CSIRO’s Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, which studied the habits of more than 4000 children, found the number of overweight and obese children in Australia has only increased marginally since the last major survey in 1995.

The study found Australia does not have a childhood obesity epidemic, but it does have too many overweight (17 per cent) and obese (6 per cent) children, while many more have significant problems with their diets.

It is not that Australian children are eating too much food - they are not eating the right food.

The survey revealed that while childhood obesity rates seem to have plateaued over the last decade, very few children are now eating to established dietary guidelines. The result: many are at risk of nutrient deficiencies and other diet-related issues. The survey showed the levels of saturated fats, sugar and salt being consumed were too high, while intake levels of micronutrients, including calcium and magnesium, were too low.

For too long the food and beverage industry has been labelled by some as being the sole cause of childhood obesity by providing too many high salt, high fat and high energy food products. This could not be further from the truth.

Read on.

My take is simply based on the fact that parents make the choices on what their children eat. If there were no demand for these types of food and drink, companies would simply stop producing them. I know that many are concerned that the marketing barrage of “junk food” ads makes parenting harder. However, in a free society, we are free to choose how we live our lives and how we choose to raise our children. If we blind our children to advertising and not teach them the skills of self-discipline and leading a healthy life, what happens when they grow older and are suddenly exposed to these “evils?” They simply will not have the aptitutude to make informed and rational choices for themselves.

The California Department of Education (CDE) looked for a correlation between fitness scores and test scores. They found that kids who were deemed fit (by a standard test of aerobic capacity, BMI, abdominal strength, trunk strength, upper body strength and overall flexibility) scored twice as well on academic tests as those that were unfit.  In the second year of the study, socio-economic status was taken into account, to possibly eliminate that variable as an explanation. As expected, those in the upper-income brackets scored better overall on the academic tests, but within the lower-income set of students, the same results were observed — kids who were more fit performed better academically.

Also from the article, a quote fromJohn Ratey, a Harvard clinical associate professor of psychiatry:

In his latest book, “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” (2008, Little, Brown), John Ratey, a Harvard clinical associate professor of psychiatry, argues for more physical fitness for students as a cure for not only their obesity but also their academic performance.

“I cannot underestimate how important regular exercise is in improving the function and performance of the brain.” Ratey writes. “Exercise stimulates our gray matter to produce Miracle-Gro for the brain.” That “Miracle-Gro” is a brain chemical called brain-derived neurotropic factor, or BDNF. When we exercise, our working muscles send chemicals into our bloodstream, including a protein known as IGF-1.

Once in the brain, IGF-1 orders the production of more BDNF. The additional BDNF helps new neurons and their connections grow. In addition, levels of other neurotransmitters are increased after a strenuous exercise session.

“Dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine — all of these are elevated after exercise,” says Ratey. “So having a workout will help focus, calming down, and impulsivity — it’s like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin.”

For two weeks beginning January 1, 2009, Governor Perry and Texas executive agency leaders will compete with other governors and their respective state leadership in the Capitol Steps Challenge. Teams will compete head-to-head by tracking their daily activity, with a goal of achieving the highest average steps per person.

At the end of the Challenge, Virgin HealthMiles will declare the state team with the highest average steps per person as the Most Active Governor’s Team in the nation and will make a $50,000 donation to that state’s childhood obesity program. If the winning state chooses to participate in the second phase of Virgin HealthMiles’ obesity initiative, they can earn double all donations, increasing the total potential donation to $250,000.

 

The second phase of Virgin HealthMiles’ obesity initiative will be individual State Leadership Challenges, where teams of 250 individuals from state government offices across the U.S. embark on a year-long program to increase their physical activity — again leading by example to their constituents about the relationship between increased activity levels and improved wellness. Based on activity levels, states can earn donations of up to $125,000 toward their childhood obesity programs. More details on the State Leadership Challenge will be announced in early 2009.

More here.

UPDATE: It’s started.