Asian Kids Blame Homework,
Heat For Not Exercising

Schoolchildren in Asian cities are getting fatter and need more exercise, but they're blaming the hot weather and too much homework for their lack of physical activity, health experts told an international conference.

About 45 percent of more than 1,500 children in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Manila pointed at homework as their main reason for not sweating it out, according to a recent joint survey by universities and nutrition research centers in those cities.

Though 97 percent of the children claimed they liked sports, one-fourth said it was usually too hot to work out, while 30 percent said they had more interesting things to do, according to a report presented to fitness experts and scientists from 26 countries attending a conference in Kuala Lumpur on battling obesity.

Among the children surveyed, 18.6 percent were considered overweight, while another 7.2 percent were obese, the report said. The children were mostly 10- and 11-year-olds.

Dr. Ian Caterson, president of the Philippine-based Asia-Oceania Association for the Study of Obesity, said the rise in obesity, bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyles among children could create a generation plagued by diabetes, high blood pressure and other ailments.

"Children are certainly putting on weight and increasing the risks of diseases," Caterson told The Associated Press. "We need more physical education classes in schools; we need to build attractive parks, basketball courts and other places for them to exercise."

The survey reported the children listed potato chips, cookies and chocolates as their favorite snacks, and only about one-fifth said they ate more vegetables than meat for lunch.

The institutes that conducted the survey included the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the National University of Malaysia, Thailand's Mahidol University and the Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Center.

Reference Source 102

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