A small Swiss study released on Monday showed that walking up and down stairs for three months, without recourse to the lift, increased levels of fitness dramatically.
In May 2006, an agreement was reached by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation and the American Beverage Association on voluntary sales restrictions on “competitive foods” such as soft drinks at schools. However, researchers now say limiting the availability of soft drinks at school may not be enough to affect overall consumption among elementary school children.
Women who want to lose weight – and keep it off – need to be exercising for 60 – 90 minutes a day. The latest research, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine journal, confirms that women who did maintain the 10% loss over time were those who reported doing more exercise, on average 275 minutes per week.
The addresses of 1554 sixth-grade girls were mapped. Distance from home to school was compared to physical activity level. Distance to school was inversely associated with weekday PA. For every mile the girls lived from their schools, they engaged in an average of 13 fewer minutes of PA per week. Distance to school is inversely associated with PA. Time spent commuting could explain reduced time for physical activity.
Childrens physical activity levels during recess were quantified at 22 English schools. 15 schools received 20,000 UK pounds to improve playgrounds. The results suggest that a playground redesign, which utilizes multicolor playground markings and physical structures, is a suitable stimulus for increasing children’s school recess physical activity levels.
This is a focus group study. Spouse’s and friend’s health behaviour and support, poor neighbourhood aesthetics, safety concerns and access to facilities, availability of fruits and vegetables at home was perceived as important. Lower socioeconomic groups expressed more price concerns.
This review is based on 31 studies. High intensity, multi-faceted interventions had a greater effect on positive dietary changes than lower intensity interventions although innovative interventions using the Internet, videos, the media and supermarkets were a success. Community based healthy eating interventions were effective in changing dietary behaviour in the general population. But the small number of studies retrieved and methodological problems indicate that further, more robust research is needed.
78 out of 103 participants recieved an information booklet and credit card sized nutrition and labelling information to use when shopping. Cash registry receipts were returned from shopping trips before and for 4 weeks. Each of nine food categories on receipts were calculated as a percentage of the total shopping, excluding non-food items. The intervention group bought more of fruits and vegetables, and less saturated fats and white bread.
96 young people age 18-24 (predominately white females without children) completed an Internet-delivered stage-tailored nutrition education module.
Self-reporting sucks IV
Aug 31
121 fourth-graders from 5 elementary schools in Indiana filled in 2 different questionnaire to measure physical activity, nutrition attitudes, and dietary and physical activity. The quick classroom questionaire was unable to measure consumption of “vegetables,” “candy,” and “snacks” corectly.