Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

Very funny, satirical look at a Government wheels of “action” at work (from ABC TV). Click through to the first episode.

MyPed turns one today

Thank you for your support: Markov, Navin, Jarmal, Hayden, Oz, Apoorva, Jen, Jeff, Stefan, Nick, Telematics Trust, Amanda, Jo, John, David, Scott and Irena (from EY), Michael, Wendy, Ash and Ell (my brothers), Charmaine, Tim, Brendon and Deirdre, Peter, Dom, Sandi, Maurice, the DC’s, the Uni Gang, Eric, Michelle, Viki (from Anzatech), David.

And last but certainly not least, my wife, Mel.

Keokuk Schools in Iowa boosts PE support:

The Keokuk schools landed a nearly $350,000 grant to beef up the weight room, provide aerobic fitness equipment and promote a more active lifestyle for students from kindergarten through high school.

The weight and aerobic equipment will not only help physical education students achieve better fitness. High school athletes will have more equipment for training.

The new equipment will be ordered in July. The high school will receive about $74,000 worth of weight lifting equipment such as free weights and non-aerobic machines. Delivery and installation will cost $7,100.

Aerobic equipment, such as treadmills, stairmasters, elliptical cross trainers and stationary bicycles and other machines also will be installed, worth about $63,000.

A major component of the grant is professional development for teachers relating to the new equipment along with funds for curriculum development.

The Carol M. White Physical Education Program Grant also includes equipment to monitor cardio-vascular fitness, new lap top computers and PDAs (personal digital assistants) for P.E. teachers to collect data.

Keokuk Middle School and the elementary students are not left out.

Nearly $17,900 in new equipment is planned, including digital pedometers, body fat analyzers, digital scales, resistance tubes and exercise balls.

The middle school also will get aerobic fitness equipment such as stationary bicycles and stairmasters.

All K-12 physical education teachers will be involved in the grant using the new equipment and in training. Playground supervision staff also will receive training in after-school workshops. The focus will be to increase activities at K-5 recess.

I like this initiative as it actually does empower and enable students to use the fitness equipment. Good to also see a portion devoted to training teachers too.

NSW Government launches a pre-school programme:

Munch and Move is a fun, games-based program for NSW preschools.  It supports the healthy development of young children by promoting physical activity, healthy eating and reduced small screen time (TV, DVD, computers).

• Children will have the opportunity to engage in skills-based active play and learn about healthy choices through a range of learning experiences.
• Parent focused support materials, including fact sheets will provide simple tips and ideas for practising healthy, active behaviours at home .

The program is a joint initiative of the NSW Department of Health, the NSW Department of Community Services and The University of Sydney.

Teenagers from low income homes are fitter than their higher income counterparts:

…young South African children from poorer backgrounds are less active than their wealthier counterparts, according to the “BratTrax” survey conducted by Youth Dynamix.

The survey of 1110 children in 2007 and 2008 shows that 65% of lower-income children aged between seven and 12 “do nothing to keep healthy and fit”. Lack of sports and parental support are among the reasons for this, the report says.

But when they hit their teens, upper-income adolescents, with time pressures caused by homework and extra-mural activities, become less active than their poorer counterparts.

Westfield Group have a “We are Family” mini-site with tips from Mums (and possible Dads too) on various family topics - you can even rate them! There a section on staying active that you may want to check out.

It is with great pleasure that I announce that MyPed has received an interest-free loan from Ian Potter Foundation’s Telematics Trust. These funds will go towards the development of MyPed’s proprietary technology designed to help children get active.
There were a number of reasons stated by the Trust that made our application for funds successful:

• Our innovative approach to motivating children to be physically active.
• Our technology has the potential to provide a social benefit to children in Australia and across the world.
• MyPed’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive strongly correlates with the guiding philosophies of Sir Ian Potter.

Unfortunately, I cannot give details on our technology currently being developed but if you are interested in hearing more please contact me.

Thank you to the team at the Ian Potter Foundation and to all who has helped (and are still helping) MyPed grow. It is truly appreciated.

A mind-body link found in Ontario:

When a quarter-million Ontario school children were prepping for last week’s province-wide tests in the “3 Rs,” they may have overlooked a surprising study tool.

The workout.

New Ontario research shows schools that push fitness and nutrition have watched their standardized scores rise by as much as 50 per cent over two years in Grade 3 reading and 39 per cent in Grade 3 math – outscoring other schools in similar neighbourhoods by about eight points across all three subjects.

A landmark study of 33 Ontario schools that are part of a health drive called Living Schools – where students exercise each day, play extra sports and are discouraged from eating junk food – saw overall scores climb by 18 per cent over two years in reading, writing and math, compared to about 4 per cent for similar schools not in the provincially funded program.

Principals also said there were fewer fights and better attendance.

I’m a bit late to the party on this but here’s some commentary about the child obesity rates levelling off:

From US News:

There’s some not-bad news about childhood obesity today: A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that the prevalence of kids with a high body mass index, or BMI, showed no significant increase between 1999 and 2006.

If that trend is borne out in data for subsequent years, it’s at least a sign that the upward creep of child BMI may have leveled off. But it’s by no means great news, since it still means more than 16 percent of kids between 2 and 19 had BMIs at or above the 95th percentile, while about 32 percent were at or above the 85th percentile. I know—that looked weird to me, too: How can 16 percent of kids be above the 95th percentile? (It’s like Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above average!) But those percentile charts are based on decades-old data on kids’ weight; kids have gotten heavier in proportion to height, so now 16 percent of them are at or above the level that used to be the cutoff for the top 5 percent.

From Extension Daily on the reasons for the levelling off:

Still, [Dr Robert] Keith says that while some behavioral changes surely have occurred, the possible peak in childhood obesity may actually have nothing to do with lifestyle changes. Future studies even may prove that the peaking effect had little to do with educational outreach and everything to do with a combination of several environmental and human genetic factors.

In fact, Keith says it is possible two pervasive environmental factors — a chronic lack of exercise coupled with a wide access to calories — have contributed to spiking obesity rates among children most genetically susceptible to these factors.

In effect, what is widely viewed as a peak is actually a genetic saturation point.

“It is possible that we’ve reached our saturation point in terms of the levels of physical inactivity and the amount of calories current available to us versus the number of children who are becoming obese,” Keith says.

Simply put, he says, all of the people most susceptible to obesity based on current levels of physical activity and levels of available calories have become obese.
And this theory, if it turns out to be true, presents a sobering reality to Keith and other health and nutrition specialist.

From Time, interviewing Cynthia Ogden (lead researcher of the study):

Ogden wouldn’t speculate as to why national childhood overweight trends appear to have stalled. It could be that kids have hit the fat ceiling — they’ve gotten as heavy as they’re ever going to get. Or, perhaps the most obvious answer is the nationwide effort to combat obesity by getting kids — and parents — to eat better and exercise more. From Arkansas, where state officials have begun sending annual childhood health reports to parents, to Massachusetts, where the town of Somerville launched a community-wide intervention to improve the diet and fitness of children, state and local governments have recognized and begun addressing childhood obesity.

One thing that needs to be noted is that Body Mass Index is used , which does have some flaws (which I have written about earlier).

From Forbes:

10. Nintendo Power Pad
9. Dance Dance Revolution
8. Yourself Fitness
7. EyeToy: Kinetic
6. Wii Sports
5. Nike+
4. Let’s Yoga
3. Wii Fit
2. My Weight-Loss Coach
1. Active Life: Outdoor Fitness