The Health Report

Get Up and Go, Girl!

Many girls experience a dramatic decline in physical activity as they go through their teen years. A study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that from age 9 to 10 to age 16 or 17, more than half of black girls and one-third of white girls are sedentary after school. Higher body mass indexes predicted a decline in activity. Given the current epidemic of obesity, this drop in activity levels should sound an alarm. The researchers suggest that girls find creative ways to get physical activity, such as aerobics classes or even walking around in a shopping mall. An editorial accompanying the report of the findings notes that 15% of young Americans are overweight.

New England Journal of Medicine, September 5, 2002

Raising the Bar—Salad, That Is We’ve all heard the “five-a-day” slogan reminding us how many servings of fruits and vegetables we need to eat. Well, hang on to your sneeze guards. The National Cancer Institute recently reminded everyone that those are the minimum number of servings. The Dietary Guidelines by USDA recommend four vegetables and three fruits a day for teen girls and active women, and five vegetables and four fruits a day for teen boys and active men. This is one health behavior measured by the YRBS in which teens need to improve. In 1993, just 15% of high school students reported eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables during the day preceding the survey. By 1997, that had increased to 29%, but fell to 21% in 2001. National Cancer Institute, September 2002; CDC YRBS 1993, 1997, 2001; USDA, How Much Are You Eating? Putting the Guidelines into Practice, March 2002

More Teens Making Responsible Decisions

Teens everywhere: Stand up and take a bow! The 2001 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) reveals positive trends in most measures of high school student risk behavior (grades 9 through 12). Here are some key positive findings of the CDC report, representing the percentage of students who reported the behaviors. 1997 is shown because some behaviors increased from 1991 to 1997, then decreased by 2001.