AUSTIN, Texas, Oct 23, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Prevention programs may be the best way to fight child obesity, U.S. researchers said.

A study examining regional changes in child obesity between 2000-2005, published in the journal Obesity, found a local obesity prevention program combining state and local community nutrition and exercise programs with media attention, and an evidence-based school health approach in the El Paso, Texas, region, was most effective statewide in decreasing childhood obesity.

The El Paso fourth graders had a decrease of 13 percent in obesity prevalence.

"Data from the El Paso region show us that obesity prevention efforts, when implemented on a broad scale, can be successful," study leader Deanna Hoelscher of the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, Austin, Texas, said in a statement.

Hoelscher said the results of the study -- called SPAN, or Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition -- illustrated the importance of measuring prevalence at the local level rather than relying on national or state estimates to monitor trends.

URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2009 by United Press International



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