Exercise promotion effective for kids

An advertising campaign that encouraged American children to be more active proved successful, public health experts say.

The TV, radio and print campaign, called VERB: It's What You Do, also used the internet and programs in schools and the community to promote physical activity as fun among children aged nine to 13.

The campaign ran from 2002 to 2006, reaching 17 million children, researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"The bottom line is children who saw the VERB campaign were more physically active than those who didn't see it," said study co-author Marian Huhman.

The researchers surveyed more than 3,000 children and their parents when the campaign started and again two years later to ask participants about their activity levels and attitudes toward exercise.

Children who said they saw the most ads reported being more physically active, taking part in about four weekly sessions, compared with three among children who were not exposed to the campaign.

A useful return on investment

The program received $194 million US in federal funding in its first two years. Compared with the cost of obesity-related illnesses, the campaign was a good investment, Huhman said.

The results were impressive, agreed Sylvia Moore of the University of Wyoming School of Medicine, who was initially skeptical about the costs.

"As somebody who actually is trying to promote healthy behaviours, I am going to use this study to say it's OK to buy ads in newspapers and pay for communities to put up billboards or banners, because we now have evidence that it helps."

The federal government's new children's fitness tax credit takes effect Monday.

Canadian guidelines suggest children get 90 minutes per day of physical activity.