Researchers studying a school-based programme credited with
reducing the rates of obese and overweight 7-year-olds have now
found a reduction in asthma symptoms. Asthma is a potentially
serious breathing disorder in which airways become inflamed. Its
causes are not known, but in many cases it is linked to
allergies. Project Energize, a healthy-nutrition and physical
activity scheme, began as a trial in Waikato in 2004 and was
later converted to an intervention funded at all Waikato primary
schools by the area's district health board. In five years, the
proportion of 7-year-olds who were overweight - the group in
which the greatest change in body mass index occurred - declined
by 4 percentage points. There was a smaller fall in the obesity
rate for 7-year-olds and the picture was more mixed for older
children. Now, data has been made public on the prevalence of
asthma as counted in Project Energize surveys from 2004 to last
year. The researchers found a drop in asthma symptoms for
several demographic groups, i