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Obesity has reached all-time record levels in the United States for both
sexes and all ages, and, over time, the result will be more heart disease and
other illnesses such as diabetes, most doctors agree.
Now a new research effort called the Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls
(TAAG) will see if it's possible to reverse at least part of that disturbing
trend in girls. Carolina and six other universities have just been awarded
grants totaling more than $34 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute to support the TAAG project.
June Stevens, associate professor of nutrition at the University's schools of
public health and medicine, is principal investigator for the study's
coordinating center. The overall goal will be to improve girls' fitness levels
to promote health and reduce their risk of obesity.
One reason for this epidemic of obesity is what some call "the couch potato
syndrome." For example, half of all adolescent girls in this country fail to
exercise vigorously enough to maintain their health long-term, according to
national studies.
"When girls hit middle school, many of them stop being physically active,"
Stevens said. "We want to find out if it's possible to prevent that decline in
physical activity and to keep girls active and fit."
Researchers at the other six universities each will recruit six public schools
and match them with two local programs such as clubs and athletic leagues that
can offer structured physical activity for a total of some 3,000 seventh-grade
girls. Using various fitness tests such as treadmills and activity monitors,
investigators will learn how fit the girls are at the beginning and the end of
the project two years later. That will show if such programs can increase
activity and fitness and keep them at acceptable levels.
The coordinating center will make sure the study is done the same way at each
site, prepare study materials and gather and analyze the data. Carolina receive
about $9 million over the next seven years, while the other universities will
divide the other $25 million. All participating universities will produce
research papers when the study concludes.
Other University faculty involved are C.E. Davis and Diane Catellier of
biostatistics, Dianne Ward of nutrition, Robert McMurray of exercise and sport
science, Allan Steckler and Kurt Ribisl of health behavior and health education
and Carol Ford of pediatrics. Other centers will be located at Johns Hopkins
and Tulane universities and the universities of Arizona, California at San
Diego, Minnesota and South Carolina.
"Changing people's behavior is extraordinarily difficult, and that's why we
need research projects to find out what works," Stevens said. "Once you've got
a program that works, you can start advocating for its dissemination."
Public schools in the United States began de-emphasizing physical education and
vigorous activity during the school day several decades ago, she said. A chief
cause was increasing concern about mathematics and English achievement, coupled
with the notion that physical education was not as important as academics and
was expendable. Boosting activity may require establishing partnerships between
schools and community organizations.
About 25 percent of U.S. boys do not achieve recommended physical activity
levels, Steven said. Black and Hispanic girls are even less active than white
girls are.
"In the past 15 years or so, there's been a sharp increase in the prevalence of
type 2 diabetes in U.S. children," she said. "That jump, and the doubling of
obesity in children, has gotten the nation's attention."
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