Nutrition, Physical Activity, and BMI-for-Age Categorization of School-Aged Children in the Menomonie Area Lindsay Rozek, Food and Nutrition; Ann Parsons, Biology, Advisor University of Wisconsin-Stout Introduction Thirty-one percent of children are overweight or obese in Wisconsin. Potential causes of this epidemic include: increased energy intake and decreased physical activity. Childhood obesity increases the risk for diabetes mellitus, low self worth cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, & asthma. Treatment programs include: dietary modification, increased physical activity, and behavioral modifications. Objectives  To determine the prevalence of childhood obesity in the Menomonie area  Examine childhood nutritional knowledge and physical activity attitudes of children and evaluate if these variables relate to childhood obesity Methods  Data was collected in March 2011 from 2 schools in the Menomonie school district with a total of 85 students from grades kindergarten through five participating  Hearts N Parks survey used to measure nutritional knowledge and physical activity attitudes  All nutrition knowledge questions were scored by giving one point for a positive answer, zero points for an incorrect answer with a possible total score of 7  All physical activity questions were scored by giving 2 points for most positive answer, 1 point for positive answer, and 0 points for least positive answer, with a possible total score of 12  Height and weight were measured to determine BMI Results  85 students  44% males  56% females  Values are average ± S.D.  No statistical significant differences observed between groups with two-way ANOVA (p >.05)  No correlation was found between weight status and nutrition knowledge using a Pearson’s correlation between student’s BMI percentile and nutrition knowledge score (r = -1.84, p >.05) References  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011, Feb.15). Healthy weight, it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle. Retrieved February 10, 2011, ml  National Conference of State Legislatures. (2011). Childhood overweight and obesity trends. Retrieved February 11, 2011 from  Values are average ± S.D.  No statistical differences found between gender and physical activity scores with two-way ANOVA (p >.05)  No correlation was observed between weight status and physical activity attitudes using a Pearson’s correlation between student’s BMI percentile and physical activity score (r = -.01, p >.05) Conclusion  Nutrition knowledge was not dependent upon grade and gender  Grade and gender did not affect physical activity attitude scores  Nutrition knowledge and physical activities are not correlated with weight status  Future research should include physical activity levels and amount of calories consumed by participants Weight StatusPercentile Range UnderweightLess than 5 th percentile Normal5 th to 85 th percentile Overweight85 th to 95 th percentile Obese≥95 th percentile  Found BMI percent for age and gender  Determined weight status  Data were analyzed using SPSS, version 18.0