Sept. 28--A South Dakota health care system has partnered with a national health information network for a new initiative aimed at promoting health and wellness and preventing childhood obesity.
Sanford Health and WebMD joined together on the "fit" initiative, which includes websites developed for children, parents and clinicians. Fit, found at http://www.fit.webmd.com, features content for all ages, including games, quizzes, articles and videos.
According to a news release, fit is the only national initiative that focuses equally on the four key contributing factors to childhood obesity risk:
--Food (nutritional fitness).
--Move (physical fitness).
--Mood (emotional fitness).
--Recharge (restorative fitness).
The fit initiative includes research that found weight is a more difficult subject for parents to talk about with their teens than drugs, alcohol, smoking or sex, according to the release. The study found that nearly a quarter of parents are hesitant to talk to their teens about being overweight, while around one in 20 parents of teens reports struggling with the subjects of alcohol, drugs and smoking, and about one in 10 is uncomfortable talking with their teens about sex, according to the release.
More than one in five parents admits to never bringing up the subject of maintaining a healthy weight to their kids, according to the release.
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