Missouri children fatter than national average

A SEMissourian article details the problem and some solutions to Missouri's childhood obesity epidemic:
In the past 20 years, the number of overweight Missouri schoolchildren has more than doubled. One-third of the students enrolled in Missouri public schools in 2003 were overweight.

That growing girth on children has many health officials alarmed because the statistics show that Missouri's percentage of overweight children exceeds the national average. . . .

James McGee makes exercise part of his family's day. He bikes to his job and walks home with daughter Christina after school. "That's just always the way we were," he said. For his family, it's not a matter of trying to add exercise, it's part of their life.

Social norms have to change in order for children and adults to add exercise to their daily lifestyle, said Ross Brownson, a professor of epidemiology at St. Louis University's School of Public Health. "Some of it's about the access people have to physical activity."

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