The results of a recent research study conducted at the Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem demonstrated that the Body Mass Index (BMI) of children who receive additional physical education classes at school is considerably lower than those who do not. The results of the research were published recently in the prestigious medical journals Nature and the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“In the past, children would come home from school, toss their backpacks aside and run out to play,” says Prof. Michael Wilschanski, Director of Hadassah’s Pediatric Gastroentrology Unit, who led the research team. “Nowadays, children come home and sit in front of the computer or television, hardly exercising at all. Therefore, it's not surprising that the rate of child and adult obesity has strongly increased in the past few years. Today 10 percent of all children are overweight.”
The two-year study involved 82 participants, aged 9 to 11. The project was conducted in two Jerusalem schools whose students came from similar socio-economic backgrounds. The control group was consisted of 26 participants who attended two 45-minute physical education classes a week as usual. The remaining participants – the test group – had twice as many classes, bolstered by a curriculum that focused primarily on aerobic exercise. In addition, the children in the test group and their parents participated in nutrition classes.
Two years later, the difference between the children's weight and their Body Mass Index was significant. The BMI of the children in the test group was 2.5 times less than that of the children in the control group. In addition, the difference between the boys in the two groups was greater than between the girls, Prof. Wilschanski attributes this to the types of physical games boys and girls engage in.
Their findings indicate that increased physical exercise in school may decrease the risk of child obesity. “We recommend adding physical education classes to the curriculum to control weight and teach children practice healthy habits,” Prof. Wilschanski said. “Children should be more active; it is important to incorporate more physical activity in the school program. It's as important as math, English and computers.”
Yael Shofen of Hadassah’s Pediatric Gastroentrology Unit, Prof. Elliot Berry and Dr. Osnat Keidar of the Braun Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and Irit Livne, Supervisor of School Health and Health Education in the Ministry of Education, collaborated in the study.