(AP) — A new report card gives Louisiana a “D” in children’s health, saying too many kids are overweight and too few get enough physical activity, spending more time parked in front of a TV set than children in other states. In fact, Louisiana has the highest percentage of high school students with TVs in their bedrooms in the nation, and studies show children with bedroom TVs are more likely to be overweight, said Peter Katzmarzyk, with LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which released the report card Monday. Louisiana received the same grade as it did a year earlier, when the annual report card was started by Pennington, which does extensive research in obesity and public health.
Louisiana fares poorly in children’s health survey
September 13, 2009