Two in five
kids don't have right BMI: Survey
New Delhi:
Two out of five kids in India were found not to have the right Body Mass Index
(BMI) levels, according to a health and fitness survey which covered 77,669
children in 176 schools across the country.
The
children were in the age group of 7-17 years from 176 schools in 68 cities and
17 states. The fitness parameters were measured over a period of 24 months.
The
parameters included flexibility, lower and upper body strength, abdominal
strength and BMI which evaluates a person's body weight in proportion to the
height.
"In a
comparative study between boys and girls, it was found that 66 percent girls
have healthy BMI scores compared to 59 percent boys. The primary causes for
higher BMI are sedentary lifestyles, unhealthy eating habits and little or no
play," the report said.
It also
states that high BMI is a direct indicator of the onset of obesity which can
lead to several health problems including type 2 diabetes, heart ailments and
high blood pleasure as early as adolescence.
The fourth
edition of Edusports annual school health and fitness survey of school going
children in urban India was conducted by EduSports, a school sports and
physical education company.
According
to the survey, children in all five regions of the country were deemed equally
unfit with unhealthy BMI scores of 37 percent (central), 39 percent (east and
north), 37 percent (south) and 38 percent (west).
Encouraging
schools to increase their physical education periods, and proposing a
structured sports programme as a solution, Saumil Majumdar, CEO and co-founder
of Edusports said: "A structured sports programme is the way forward, if
any change in the fitness levels of children is desired. It is disheartening to
witness an unhealthy generation that is otherwise ahead of its time."
"The
alarming fitness standards that have emerged in our annual study, again prove
that physical activity/sports in schools should be viewed as an important part
of the curriculum for the overall development of a child," he added.
04.12.2013
Low levels of vitamin D linked to
brain damage
Washington: A new research has suggested that a diet low in
vitamin D causes damage to the brain.
In addition to being essential for maintaining bone health,
newer evidence shows that vitamin D serves important roles in other organs and
tissue, including the brain.
The UK study led by University of Kentucky researchers
showed that middle-aged rats that were fed a diet low in vitamin D for several
months developed free radical damage to the brain, and many different brain
proteins were damaged as identified by redox proteomics.
These rats also showed a significant decrease in cognitive
performance on tests of learning and memory.
"Given that vitamin D deficiency is especially
widespread among the elderly, we investigated how during aging from middle-age
to old-age how low vitamin D affected the oxidative status of the brain,"
lead author of the study Allan Butterfield, said. "Adequate vitamin D
serum levels are necessary to prevent free radical damage in brain and
subsequent deleterious consequences."
Previously, low levels of vitamin D have been associated
with Alzheimer's disease, and it's also been linked to the development of
certain cancers and heart disease.
The study was published in Free Radical Biology and
Medicine.
04.12.2013
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