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Since 1980, childhood obesity rates in the United States have reached an epidemic proportion. One in three children in is overweight or obese. Currently, about 25 million children and adolescents in the U.S. are classified as overweight or obese. From 2007-2008 to 2009-2010, data have shown that there has been no decrease in the prevalence rates of obesity among adults or children (Flegal, et al., 2012 & CDC Grand Rounds, 2011). Most alarmingly, childhood obesity and overweight have become the leading causes of a myriad of pediatric hypertension, atherosclerosis, Type2 diabetes, sleep apnea, increased stress on the weight-bearing joints, and increased risk of coronary heart disease. According to the proceedings of the USDA symposium on the causes and prevention of obesity in children, childhood obesity has been found in preschool children as young as 4 years old, and 25% of children 6 to 11 years old and 39% in the 12 to 17-year old range are overweight. These findings also revealed that 70% of overweight and obese children aged 10 to13 years old are destined to become overweight and obese adults, and most of them will remain to be obese for the rest of their lives. In an effort to combat this rapidly growing public health menace, the U.S. Congress, as well as the Federal Government stepped in through several regulations and measures to require school districts across the nation that participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to improve the quality of the school meals as an attempt to confronting childhood obesity and establishing a lifelong healthy lifestyle for school-aged children. Currently, approximately 32 million children participate in the NSLP and National School Breakfast Program (NSBP). In addition, in 2004, the U.S. Congress passed The Federal Child Nutrition and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act (AKA the Federal Wellness Mandate). The aim of this law was to addresses the childhood obesity epidemic by mandating local school districts to create, adopt, and implement local wellness policies (LWP) to change the existing health environment of the nation's schools. This mandate had an inconsequential or no impact on the reduction of childhood obesity and overweight rates. Most recently, new standards for school meals were established under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) that was signed into law by President Obama in 2011. Despite all these efforts, a body of literature has demonstrated that there is a disagreement among nutrition experts, pediatricians, policymakers, and researches on the effectiveness of these government-sponsored school meal programs in curtailing the steadily rising rates of childhood obesity and overweight. There is a significant body of research that has investigated the efficacy of the NSBP, NSLP, and other similar state-administered food programs in managing childhood obesity and overweight; as well as their overall impact on the child's health. The results of these studies were inconclusive and contradictory. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of the school nutrition assistance programs at both the federal and state levels in curbing the epidemic of childhood obesity and overweight in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The 2008 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans stated that regular physical activity is one of the most important steps that Americans of all ages can take to improve their health condition and overall wellbeing. In addition, the Healthy People 2020 Phase I Report indicated that there is strong body of the scientifically-based empirical evidence supporting the health benefits of regular physical activity among youth and adults. Regular physical activity includes participation should include moderate to vigorous physical activities particularly cardiovascular endurance and muscle-strengthening activities. In 1996, HHS reported that during the university years (typically 18-22 years of age) the frequency of performing vigorous exercise three or more days a week declines by 6.2 percentage points for men and 7.3 percentage points for women. In a sports participation habits questionnaire, López, et al. (2010) further reported that 18% of a college student representative sample indicated not having participated in any sport activity during their spare time. The findings point out that was attributed to internal and external barriers such as lack of time, not seeing its usefulness, and being lazy. These data indicate that there is a strong need for more physical activity interventions and increasing the frequency of physical activity that target early adults, including college-aged students. The main goal of this research paper is to study the effects of the frequency of regular physical activity on four health-related fitness components in college-aged students. Methods: Ninety-four female and male participants took part in this investigation. Sixty participants took part in a ten-week university-based physical activity program with a frequency of exercise of one-day a week (Group 1), another group of thirty-four participants exercised two-day per week (Group 2). The health-related components of physical fitness tested are as follows: cardiovascular fitness, body composition, muscular endurance, and flexibility. Results: Measurable gains were made by the individuals in both groups on all four assessments; however, significant gains were found in the muscular endurance and body composition components. Conclusion: The major finding in this study is that both once and twice per week physical activity participation improved participants' results on all physical activity assessments with the only exception of cardiovascular fitness. Furthermore, it is noteworthy in the findings that the participants in both groups experienced statistically significant improvements in three out of the four health-related fitness assessments indicating the effects of the frequency of training on those improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The intent of the research study was to investigate the effectiveness of performing low-intensity exercise in the treatment of obesity in women employing three prescribed of walking at low to moderate speeds. The data obtained from this physiological evaluation were utilized to identify the most optimal pattern(s), size(s), and speed(s) of walking to be employed in exercise testing and individualized exercise prescription for weight loss. Methods: Subjects for this study were 18 obese and 21 non-obese adult females. All subjects participated in 2 separate sessions of testing. The first session included administering hydrostatic weighing and residual lung volume tests to determine percent body fat and the level of obesity. A graded treadmill VO2 MAX test was conducted and used as a criterion gold standard for determining the individualized speeds for the walking field test. A modified version of the Cunningham Protocol was employed. The second session was held at least 24 hours following the first session. In this session, the subjects walked at individually prescribed speeds (1 to 5 mph) on three different walking patterns (circle, oval, and shuttle) in random order to all subjects for a 3-minute period each. A 1-minute gas sample was collected in a meteorological balloon at the end of each period. A 30-second %HRMAX was used to calculate the 12 energy expenditure components (Kcal). Results: No differences were found between the 2 groups in Kcal.-1.m-2. A significant difference was found between the 2 groups in Kcal. L-1.kg-1. The obese group expended higher energy in Kcal. L-1 in walking on the circle-shaped course than did the non-obese group, and higher energy Kcal .L-1.m-2 in walking the circle-shaped course than in walking the oval-shaped and shuttle-shaped courses. The non-obese group expended the highest energy in Kcal.-1.kg-1 on the shuttle-shaped course. No differences were found between the 2 groups for the other 9 independent variables. No interactions were found for these variables. Conclusion: The obese individuals are expected to consume higher energy walking at a low-to-moderate speed in a circular pattern than the nonobese individuals. The non-obese individuals are expected to consume higher energy walking in an oval-shaped or a shuttle-shaped pattern than the obese individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]