Sep

21

Effort to target early obesity - Buffalo News- Topic: Childhood Obesity News

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Marks, a Buffalo-area native, is senior vice president and director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which in 2007 committed $500 million over five years toward childhood obesity programs, one of the largest public health initiatives ever by a private philanthropy. But he and others warn that for such programs to have any effect, they must continue over long periods, and be complemented with greater levels of personal responsibility by parents and changes in government policies. The rate of childhood obesity, after rising without a break for more than two decades, may have peaked, according to the latest government data collected from 1999 to 2006 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and published earlier this year. The Fitness for Kids Challenge aims to involve hundreds of elementary and middle schools in the eight-county region in competitions over eight months for prizes, including a $1,000 grant for health-related programs, based on the students’ success at meeting goals for physical fitness and nutrition. Read Childhood Obesity

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