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After-School Programs Can Increase Physical Activity of Adolescent Girls |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Afterschool programs can modestly increase the amount of physical activity among girls in middle school, according to new results from the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG), a multiple site, community based study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. The study found that programs which linked schools in 6 geographic regions of the U.S. with community partners (such as the YMCA or YWCA, local health clubs, and community recreation centers) increased time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among the middle-school female students by about 2 minutes per day, or 80 calories a week. The authors write that results suggest this improved level of activity could prevent excess weight gain of about 2 pounds per year (or 0.82 kg per year), which, if sustained, could prevent a girl from becoming overweight as a teenager or adult. In addition, TAAG showed a reduction of 8.2 minutes of sedentary behavior in girls in the intervention schools. The study results support the need for schools and community programs to work together to provide opportunities for physical activity programs in afterschool settings. Charlotte Pratt, PhD, program director with NHLBI's Division of Prevention and Population Sciences, and a coauthor of the paper, as well as Dr. Larry Webber, the lead author, Tulane University, are available for comment on TAAG. It is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
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