University launches study to stop "ticking time bombs"

Published: 22 April 2002

An innovative new study funded by the British Heart Foundation to help prevent later heart disease in young children is being launched at 09.45 am today, Monday, 22 April 2002 at Rowena Nursery School in Glasgow.

Issued jointly by the British Heart Foundation and the University of Glasgow

An innovative new study funded by the British Heart Foundation to help prevent later heart disease in young children is being launched at 09.45 am on Monday, 22 April 2002 at Rowena Nursery School in Glasgow.

The £166,000 three-year study is designed to tackle the growing problem of inactivity in pre-school aged children - one of the "ticking time bombs" for coronary heart disease in the future. Based at the University of Glasgow, Yorkhill NHS Trust and Glasgow City Council, the study will examine the effect of improving activity levels in the nursery and home environment - the first time a study has adopted this dual approach.

Researchers hope to recruit a total of 400 children from nurseries and other pre 5 centres across Glasgow to take part in the study. Children, who will be recruited in the year before they start school, will complete a programme of physical activity and undergo regular monitoring for a one year period to assess what effect this activity has on their weight, blood pressure, and fatness.

Dr John Reilly, lead researcher based at Yorkhill's Department of Human Nutrition, said: "There is an increasing belief that the promotion of physical activity should begin at an early age. Until now research studies have not been large enough, or over a long enough time scale, to test how effective education strategies can be. If successful, this programme will also be easy to integrate into an early years curriculum across the UK."

One group of children in the study will take 30 minutes of activity a day, three days a week at the nursery, as well as working from a home based 'TopTots' pack, which will continue the exercises in the home environment and focus the family attention on inactivity. A control group will continue their normal activities at nursery and home."

Recent figures published by the British Heart Foundation show that only half of all 11-16 year olds walk for up to ten minutes a day, and that in the last ten years the number of obese six year olds has doubled, whilst numbers of obese 15 year olds have tripled.

Lack of physical inactivity in children is especially worrying because key risk factors for coronary heart disease can be seen even at an early age. Conditions such as high blood pressure are common in children who are overweight or obese and are a major contributory factor to later coronary heart disease.

Professor Sir Charles George, British Heart Foundation's Medical Director comments: "It is worrying that the levels of obesity in children are increasing while the amount of physical activity they take is going down. Unless we can improve education about these issues we could face an increasing level of coronary heart disease and diabetes in the future. I look forward to the results of this important research."

The British Heart Foundation has recently launched two new educational resources for children. The pocket play pack gives children ideas of things they can do that involve physical activity and a new CD-Rom called Nutrition Mission, targeted at 7-11 year olds designed to help them learn about healthy eating in a fun way (see notes to editors).

"Couch kids - the growing epidemic: looking at physical activity in children in the UK", 2000.

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Media Relations Office (media@gla.ac.uk)


The launch of the new BHF study to prevent later heart disease in the under-fives will be launched on Monday, 22nd April 2002 from 0945-1000 (filming opportunities from 1000 - 1030)

The launch will take place at Rowena Nursery School, 36 Knightscliffe Avenue, Glasgow G13 2TE, Tel 0141 959 4183
Directions: From Glasgow City centre head west along Great Western Rd-straight through Anniesland Cross then Knightscliffe Avenue is first on the right (approx a quarter of a mile). Landmarks to note are B&Q on the right hand corner, McDonalds and Kwik Fit on the left

No admission or filming without official press ID

For further information contact:
Margaret Lindsay, Headteacher, Rowena Nursery School, Tel: 0141 959 4183

British Heart Foundation Head Office, London: Craig Haslop, Communication Officer, Tel 020 7487 9476.

Glasgow City Council: Alan Forbes, Press Officer, Tel 0141 287 0918

University of Glasgow Press Office, 0141 330 3535

Supporting Information

Parents and teachers can obtain copies of the pocket play pack by calling 0870 909 0111 (50 pence per minute). For the nutrition mission CD-ROM they should call 0906 553 2398 - a premium phone line -which means that your call will cost roughly ?2 to cover post and packaging.

The British Heart Foundation is a major national charity that plays a leading role in the fight against heart and circulatory disease, the UK?s biggest killer.

The research which led to the new BHF funded study was sponsored by the Medical Charity Sport Aiding Medical Research For Kids (SPARKS). SPARKS funds a wide range of childrens medical research projects including work on pre-eclampsia, premature birth, spina bifida, childhood cancers and diabetes. For further information please contact Katie Miller, katie@SPARKS.org.uk or 0207-340-0681.

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First published: 22 April 2002

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