Grand Canyon Trekkers: school-based lunchtime walking program.
The incidence of childhood overweight is especially troubling among low income Latino youth. Grand Canyon Trekkers (GCT) was implemented as a quasi-experimental study in 10 Title 1 elementary schools with a large Latino population to examine the effects of a 16-week structured walking program on components of health-related physical fitness: Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference, and cardio-respiratory. Data on 1,074 research participants revealed no significance changes in BMI or waist circumference (p > .05); however, cardio-respiratory fitness increased by 37.1% over baseline. Cardiovascular fitness is an independent determinant of long-term health; therefore, the GCT program may have significantly improved the future health profile of the participants and decreased their risk of metabolic diseases.
Community Health Services, Scottsdale Healthcare, Scottsdale, AZ, USA.
Alisa
A
Hawthorne
Gabriel
G
Shaibi
Bonnie
B
Gance-Cleveland
Sarah
S
McFall
D000293:Adolescent; D001130:Arizona; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010806:Physical Education and Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012572:School Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016138:Walking