School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley. The study, which identifies opportunities for adolescents to improve their health based on routine daily activities, finds that regular participation in PE class is significantly associated with greater cardiovascular fitness and lower body mass index.
"This research will help support moving physical education policy forward. Clearly, physical education in schools is an underutilized tool in our efforts to reduce pediatric obesity," said Patricia Crawford, DrPH, RD, the study's senior author and director of the Dr. Robert C. and Veronica Atkins Center for Weight and Health at UC Berkeley.
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