A fresh study found that a special...

A fresh study found that a specially designed education program for third- and fourth-grade children significantly lowers cholesterol flushs in just eight weeks, according to an Aug 3 1998 pres release from the National Institutes of Health. The elementary program also helps shape cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors related to descendants pressure and physical inactivity.

The program involved regular classroom teachers providing instruction twice each week for eight weeks to a arrange of elementary school children. The course emphasized the importance of regular exercise and by what mode to select heart-healthy foods. The children also received an aerobically focused physical education program three times by week.

The Cardiovascular Health in Children (CHIC) contemplation is the first to ordeal the program on children with at least sum of two units CVD risk factors and to compare the effectiveness of a classroom-wide program with a program providing more individualized interventions. The findings refer to the need for policy changes at the elementary seminary level to place new emphasis onward health and physical activities that can shape CVD in children's later lives.

The program also was place to be more effective when implemented in a classroom, rather than targeted solely at small assemblages within the class that exhibit CVD risks. This has made the program more cost-effective because the more individualized approach requires additional staff resources and is more difficult to integrate into the teach day. Researchers speculate that the reason the clump approach is more successful is that it avoids stigmatization of children with risk factors, capitalizes forward positive peer pressure, and includes children who popularly are at low risk.

According to the release, heart disease can begin in childhood, which underscores the importance of reaching children early to instill healthy habits. Also, risk factors discloseed at an early age protect to remain throughout adulthood and can lead to heart attack, attack or kidney failure.

of the present day Elementary School Program Lowers Cardiovascular Risks in Children (pres release, Bethesda, Md: National Institute of Nursing Research, Aug 3 1998) Available from http://www.nih.gov/ninr/chicpr.htm. Accessed 24 tribe 1998.

COPYRIGHT 1998 Association of Operating place Nurses, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group