American Heart Association spokesperson, Russell Pate, PhD. of USC, testified Thursday before a U.S. House committee in support of federal legislation that would improve physical education and boost academic performance. Pate's testimony was followed by a youth rally supporting the legislation.

Pate asked members of the House Committee of Education and Labor to support the Fitness Integrated with Teaching (FIT) Kids Act which would amend the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) to make quality physical education a priority in public schools.

More than nine million American children and adolescents are overweight and the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that by 2010, one in five children in the U.S. will be obese.

"We are already seeing diseases like diabetes and high cholesterol in children that in previous generations were only observed in adults," said Pate, associate vice president for Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. "The epidemic is so severe that some experts predict that this generation of America's children may be the first to have shorter lives than their parents. We must not - we cannot let that happen."

According to the National Survey of Children's Health, in 2003, 19 percent of S.C.'s children 10- 17 years of age were overweight compared to 15% at the national level. In 2005, S.C.'s legislature passed the Student Health and Fitness Act to address these concerns. The legislation requires 90 minutes of physical education and 60 minutes of physical activity for elementary school students each week. Parents also receive fitness reports for middle school students and once during high school.

The American Heart Association, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) recommend that elementary school students receive 150 minutes of PE per week and that middle and high school students receive 225 minutes per week. Yet, a recent survey by the CDC found that only 3.8 percent of elementary, 7.9 percent of middle, and 2.1 percent of high schools are meeting this standard. One in five schools do not require students to take any physical education at all.

Pate, an exercise physiologist at USC, has conducted research on physical activity and physical fitness in children, and the health implications of physical activity. He has also authored several American Heart Association scientific statements and represents the association on the Department of Health and Human Services' Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee.

For more information about the FIT Kids Act, visit www.fitkidsact.org.