CHAPEL HILL - 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.
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.
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. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 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.
Dr. June Stevens, associate professor of nutrition at the UNC-CH 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. "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. UNC-CH will 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 UNC-CH faculty involved are Drs. C.E. Davis and Diane Catellier of biostatistics, Dr. Dianne Ward of nutrition, Dr. Robert McMurray of exercise and sport science, Drs. Allan Steckler and Kurt Ribisl of health behavior and health education and Dr. 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."
U.S. public schools 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."
Note: Stevens can be reached at 919-966-1065 or 962-2756
june_stevens@unc.edu.
Ward at 966-3245
School of Public Health Contact:
Lisa Katz
966-7467
News Services Contact:
David Williamson
962-8596