Description: Two recent studies published by the New England Journal of Medicine on childhood obesity provide greater evidence that children are in dire need of quality physical education programs in schools. Overweight children have an increased risk for heart disease in adulthood as early as age 25, and are prone to premature heart attacks and strokes. Bottom line, our children are in trouble, and particularly here in North Dakota.

Congress has an opportunity to help improve the health and well-being of our children by supporting the Fitness Integrated with Teaching Kids Act, which amends the No Child Left Behind Act to encourage schools to increase physical education and give children the tools they need to stay fit and healthy through adulthood. Not only is a fit child at less risk for future heart disease, studies show they also achieve more academically.

Currently, more than nine million children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 are considered overweight. In?2005, 24 percent of North Dakota