Are there other reasons (related to health) for including regular physical education in the curriculum?
YRBS (1998) data suggest that 60% of high school females and 23% of high school males are attempting to lose weight. Students report their most commonly used method when attempting to lose or control weight is exercise (51.5%), followed by dieting (30.4%). Integrating the teaching of nutrition and physical activity in school classes makes good sense and could be an important contributor to decreasing the incidence of obesity and helping adolescents who are attempting to lose weight using ineffective techniques. The importance of weight related issues in school-age children was recently documented by Freedman et al., (1999). Energy balance is of particular importance because of the increase in body fatness documented in children and youth (Andersen et al., 1998; Beunen et al., 1994; Gidding et al., 1996). Table 1 presents important nutrition and health concerns for young people.
