Physical education helps curb teen obesity

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say regular physical education helps curb obesity in teens from low-income homes.

The study, published in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, links regular participation in physical education class to greater cardiovascular fitness and lower body weight and suggests physical education may be an underutilized tool for reducing childhood obesity.

"Physical education was by far the most significant predictor of students' fitness and was the only variable associated with improved weight status," first author Dr. Kristine Madsen of the University of California, San Francisco, says in a statement.

"I think this shows that we need to increase the importance of physical education in schools and set up tougher standards in the same way we set up tough standards around academic performance."

Madsen and colleagues surveyed physical activity of all sorts including degree of participation in physical education class for 9,268 seventh- and ninth-grade students at 19 racially and ethnically diverse low-income community public schools that administer a fitness test as part of The California Endowment's Healthy Eating Active Communities Initiative.

Students who spent at least 20 minutes exercising during physical education class had significantly better fitness and lower body mass index scores. The greater the students' reported levels of enjoyment of physical education, the better their scores on the fitness test, the study says.