BMI For Arkadelphia Students Released Today
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
A health official says figures from
Arkadelphia, the first school district to finish measuring the body
mass of all its students, are cause for alarm. The figures say
nearly two-fifths of the districts two-thousand, 51 students are
either at risk of becoming overweight or are overweight already.
Numbers from Arkadelphias five schools show that boys are more
likely to be overweight than girls, and that certain grades are
heavier than others. Doctor Joe Thompson, project director for the
Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, said the results in
Arkadelphia are a major cause for concern. Thompson said the state
has a major problem with child and adolescent obesity.
The numbers were gathered under a new law. The law requires
public schools to work up an annual body mass index, using height,
weight and age, to indicate body mass of each student. It also rids
school cafeterias of vending machines and creates the Arkansas
Child Health Advisory Committee.
The numbers are the first in a program that aims to screen all
450,000 Arkansas public school students.
