President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition

PCFSN Research Digest

The Research Digest is a quarterly publication of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition. Issues cover a range of topics that includes aspects of sports, physical activity and fitness, physical education, nutrition, and dietetics research. The goal of the publication is to present a balanced, research-to-practice, evidence-based analysis of the topic for educators, sports coaches, public health practitioners and students. Click here for the Research Digests, and be sure to subscribe to the mailing list to be the first to know when new reports are released!

Guidelines for Physical Activity & Nutrition

• Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010: Published every five years since 1980, the guidelines provide evidence-based nutrition information and advice for people age 2 and older.
• Exercise and Physical Activity for Older Adults: From the National Institute on Aging, learn the benefits of exercise for older adults, how to get started, exercises to try, and how to stay active.
• 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: The first-ever Federal guidelines for physical activity describe the types and amounts of physical activity that offer substantial health benefits to Americans.
• Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth: The report describes intervention strategies for increasing physical activity among youth aged 3 to 17 years in key settings including school, preschool and childcare, community, family and home, and primary health care.

Federal Reports & Plans

• Healthy People 2020: Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans.
• Healthy People 2010 Final Review – Complete Report: The end-of-decade assessment tracks physical activity, nutrition, and obesity objectives and goals set in 2000.
• The Surgeon General's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation: U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin's plan to reverse the trend of increasing obesity across the nation and achieve optimal health for all Americans at every stage of life.
• White House Task Force on Childhood Obesity Report to the President: An inter-agency plan that details a coordinated strategy, identifies key benchmarks, and outlines an action plan to end the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. The goal of the action plan is to reduce the childhood obesity rate to just five percent by 2030 – the same rate before childhood obesity first began to rise in the late 1970s.

Legislation

• Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity State Legislative Database: Search state Legislative and regulation actions related to obesity, nutrition, and physical activity topics by state, bill, status, year, topic, and setting.
• State-Based Physical Activity Program Directory: The state-based directory provides information about physical activity programs involving state departments of health.

Statistics & Indicators

• 2010 Shape of the Nation : Provides a current picture of physical education in the American education system.
• State Indicator Report on Physical Activity: National and state-specific information around physical activity behavior, policy, and environmental supports are included.
• U.S. Physical Activity Statistics: Physical activity data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System captures responses to physical activity questions that measure a person's physical activity in leisure-time, household, and transportation.