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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 4, 2004 #04-23 04 Nov 2004: $2.8 Million Public-Private Partnership to Examine How Surroundings Can Encourage Active LifestylesA new $2.8 million effort, partnering public and private funding agencies, will examine how better community design encourages people to be more physically active in their daily lives. Researchers will identify how our built environment contributes to obesity and how environmental changes can combat a growing public health problem. "We need to be as creative and inventive as we can to encourage Americans to make physical activity a part of their daily lives," Health and Human Services (http://www.hhs.gov) The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (http://www.niehs.nih.gov) is paying for the five-year evaluation of communities located across the U.S. to assess the impact on physical activity and obesity of local design and transportation changes. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (http://www.rwjf.org) The program establishes innovative approaches to increase physical activity through community design and communications strategies. The NIEHS will examine the program's impact on physical activity, obesity, and other health indicators. Results from these 25 communities will be compared against communities that haven't improved their surroundings to encourage physical activity. The built environment encompasses buildings like houses, schools, and workplaces; industrial or residential land uses; public areas like parks and museums; zoning regulations and transportation systems. "We'd like to determine if simple changes in the built environment and in individual behavior can enhance physical activity and reduce obesity for residents," said Dr. Kenneth Olden (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/about/od/pastdirectors/kennetholden.cfm), director of the NIEHS, which is the public agency funding the effort. "Local municipalities could then look at the results and determine if modifying the built environment might affect the public's health and reduce health care costs." The World Health Organization declared excess weight as one of the top ten health risks in the world (http://www.who.int/whr/2002/en/Overview_E.pdf) The Surgeon General's "Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity" (http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/obesity/) One practical intervention is to modify the environmental contributors responsible for the majority of the obesity epidemic, such as food availability, sedentary lifestyles and behaviors, and the built environment. "Community design and limited transportation choice often prevent people from leading physically active lives," said Richard Killingsworth (http://www.activelivingbydesign.org/) "The value of these community partnerships goes beyond the physical infrastructure" said Kate Kraft (http://www.rwjf.org/) Physical activity can reduce the risk of a wide variety of chronic and acute illnesses including cardiovascular disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, obesity, depression, back pain and osteoporosis. Research shows that physical inactivity is a primary cause of overweight and obesity in the U.S. "Less than half of all Americans reach the recommended amount of physical activity," said Dr. Allen Dearry (http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/), NIEHS associate director. "By looking at these communities around the country, we'll be able to better understand the relationship among the built environment, physical activity and obesity." Part of the National Institutes of Health, NIEHS supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. Located at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health at Chapel Hill, the Active Living by Design Program was established to increase physical activity through the built environment. |
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