CIHR-Funded Experts Available to Comment on the Launch Today of “Active Healthy Kids Canada’s 2007 Report Card” at the “International Conference on Physical Activity and Obesity in Children” in Toronto, June 24-27, 2007

ATTENTION: Assignment editors, health, research and science reporters

For immediate release- 2007-24

OTTAWA (June 27, 2007) – Kids are getting bigger. One in three Canadian children is either overweight or obese. As we head into the dog days of summer, many parents are concerned about keeping their kids active. Inactivity and childhood obesity have high costs for the health-care system – one in three children born after 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes.Toronto is hosting the International Conference on Physical Activity and Obesity in Children from June 24-27, 2007. Concurrently, Active Healthy Kids Canada’s 2007 Report Card will be launched today, June 27, 2007. Research experts funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) are available to comment on childhood obesity and the latest research into physical activity and nutrition.

Experts:
Winning the battle against the bulge starts with imagination: cutting wait times by trimming our waist lines
Dr. Diane Finegood, Scientific Director of CIHR’S Institute on Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (Burnaby, BC)

Do genetics and the environment influence children’s food intake and body weight?
Dr. Lise Dubois, CIHR-funded researcher from the University of Ottawa (Ottawa, Ontario);

A call to all schools – How to get kids to eat less: environmental/physiological factors regulating energy intake
Nicola Bellissimo, CIHR-funded research from University of Toronto (Toronto, Ontario)

The Canadian “Learning to be Active” School Study (CLASS): childhood obesity from a physical activity perspective
Dr. Claire-Marie Leblanc, CIHR-Funded researcher from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Ontario);
Dr. Mark Tremblay, CIHR-Funded researcher from the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (Ottawa, Ontario)

Reducing obesity through culturally sensitive, long-term community base programs aimed at Aboriginal people
Dr. Karen Chad, CIHR-funded researcher from the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan)

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The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada’s agency for health research. CIHR’s mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to more than 11,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada.

For an interview, please contact:

David Coulombe
CIHR Media Specialist
Office: 613-941-4563
Mobile: 613-808-7526
Email: mediarelations@cihr-irsc.gc.ca