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October 5, 2006 NDSU Extension Nutrition Education Program Honored “On the Move to Better Health,” the North Dakota State University Extension Service’s multilesson curriculum for fifth-graders, has won national recognition. The program, which encourages elementary-age youth to develop healthy eating and physical activity habits that last a lifetime, has been named a National 4-H Program of Distinction. It also has been selected to receive an Annie E. Casey Foundation Family Strengthening Award. The foundation’s primary mission is to foster policies, reforms and support to help today’s vulnerable children and their families. Jim Casey, founder of UPS, established the Baltimore-based foundation in 1948. “We are pleased that the committee recognized a nutrition and fitness-based program in its Family Strengthening Award program,” says NDSU Extension food and nutrition specialist Julie Garden-Robinson. “Good health is one of the foundations for a strong family.” Childhood overweight and obesity are becoming a nationwide concern. Since the 1970s, the rate of childhood obesity has doubled among preschoolers and adolescents, and tripled among children ages 6 to 11. A growing number of children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and overweight children as young as 3 and 4 are showing signs of high blood pressure and cholesterol. Also, about seven of 10 overweight adolescents will be overweight or obese adults. Obesity that persists into adulthood is linked with chronic diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer. The Family Strengthening Award honors Garden-Robinson; Rita Ussatis, an Extension agent in Cass County; Sue Isbell, an Extension agent in Sioux County; and Kim Lipetzky, a nutritionist with Fargo Cass Public Health, for their role in developing or implementing the program. ### Source: Julie
Garden-Robinson, (701) 231-7187, jgardenr@ndsuext.nodak.edu |
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