, 2007). However, family reports of enrolled children engaging in more exercise and eating healthier did reach statistical significance at both time points. The authors of this report argue that these findings are too preliminary to draw hard conclusions. Moodie and colleagues (2008) mention that a much larger LEAP study is underway. The short time-span of the intervention may also be a problem, since a 2-year pilot study in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania revealed a significant reduction in BMI for elementary school children in an in-school obesity intervention group (Manger et al., 2012).
My recommendation would be to implement the LEAP-U.S. program on a limited scale geographically to test whether it can have a significant impact over at least a 2-year period. The cost benefit analysis suggests that only a minor improvement in BMI scores need be realized to reach the break-even point. With the obesity epidemic still representing a significant healthcare cost burden in the U.S. And the results of numerous studies indicating that childhood obesity leads to lifetime obesity and the development of related comorbid conditions, if only 4% of all overweight and obese children achieved a healthy weight, the program would pay for itself in the short-term. The long-term benefits could also be potentially significant, but determining whether this is true would require a much longer study period.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). 3101.0 Australian Demographic Statistics. Table 59. Estimated resident population by single...
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