49.6% OF KIDS UNFIT.

Byline: Marci Wormser Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Nearly one High Desert school child in four is overweight, and nearly half the youngsters are unfit, according to a study released today.

Experts say local youngsters are emersed in the same culture of fast food, physical inactivity and television and video games that contributed to what health officials are calling a dangerous epidemic of overweight and unfit children throughout California.

``Now after school kids watch TV or play videos,'' said Howard Sundberg, Lancaster School District assistant superintendent of educational services. ``I used to walk five miles each way to school every day,'' but now children get rides.

The study, ``An Epidemic: Overweight and Unfit Children in California Assembly Districts,'' was released by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy.

For the study, analysts reviewed data from the Fitnessgram, the statewide fitness-tests program for fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders. Body composition measurements were used to assess weight and aerobic capacity measures for fitness.

Analysts found that 24.5 percent of the 19,200 children tested in the 36th Assembly District were overweight and 49.6 percent were unfit. The 36th Assembly District includes the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, as well as Victorville in San Bernardino County.

The proportion of overweight children was slightly lower than the statewide average, 26.5 percent, but the percentage labeled unfit was much higher. Statewide, 39.6 percent of youngsters were found unfit.

Locally, boys - 27.9 percent - were more likely to be overweight than girls - 21.2 percent. But girls were more likely to be unfit - the label for 54.2 percent of them and 45.1 percent of the boys.

Overweight children face a greater risk of developing a host of health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and asthma, as well as low-self esteem, poor body image and symptoms of depression.

Fifty percent of obese adolescents become obese adults, putting them at risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes later in life. Obesity costs an estimated $14.2 billion a year in direct medical costs and lost productivity in California, analysts said.

The California Department of Education also released a study that found physically fit children perform better in school. This study matched scores from the spring 2001 Stanford Achievement Test with results of the Fitnessgram.

Experts say multiple factors are to blame for lack of fitness, including the easy availability of fast foods, working parents' lack of time to cook healthier meals and lack of knowledge about good nutrition and the importance of exercise.

Public health center officials are calling for state law to require 200 to 400 minutes of physical education every 10 days in first through 12th grades, as well as for funding and implementation of state law to outline elementary school nutrition standards.

Antelope Valley school officials say local youngsters are already required to take at least 200 minutes of physical education every two weeks, and they have a plethora of sports and other activities they can take part in.

Lancaster middle school students receive an average of 50 minutes a day of physical education, including both team sports and fitness activities. Elementary school students receive at least 200 minutes every two weeks.

In addition, hundreds of students take part in dozens of extracurricular sports offered after school.

``Our elementary schools do more than most elementary schools in terms of extracurricular sports,'' said Sundberg.

Susan Custer, director of curriculum and instruction in the Antelope Valley Union High School District, said she believes that local students fared better this year and are in better shape than in recent years.

Freshmen and sophomores enrolled in the high school district are required to take physical education daily, she said. In addition, a yearlong health class is a requirement for freshmen.

``The goal of those standards (is) to teach kids healthy lifestyles and physical fitness,'' she said.