Nike executive tells World Economic Forum that physical activity essential



Economic_Costs_of_Not_Moving_Are_UnAcceptable_detail.jpg This graphic is from the Nike-sponsored study, Designed to Move, about the link between obesity and inactivity View full size  
Since at least 2006, Nike has drawn attention to the world's increasing obesity levels. On Saturday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a Nike executive was part of a panel that discussed the topic.

Obesity is linked to an "inactivity crisis" as a result of urbanization, said Lisa MacCallum Carter, Nike vice president for access to sport.

Carter, quoted in the Bangkok Post, cited research showing Americans are 32 percent less active than in 1967, and if current trends continue they will be 50 percent less active by 2030.

Other facts from the conference:
  • Obesity is the fastest growing chronic disease, killing 2.8 million adults every year.
  • In the United States, more than 35 percent of the population is obese.
  • In the United Kingdom the figure has reached 25 percent.
  • In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults over the age of 20 were overweight.
  • 30 percent of adults in Mexico are obese.
  • 65 percent of people live in countries where obesity kills more than undernourishment does.
  • In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity in the US were estimated at $ 147 billion.

In this video from the conference, the panel moderator, Jason Li Yat-Sen, director of The George Institute for Global Health, People's Republic of China, asks: "How did we get so fat so fast?" (Yat-Sen delivers a moderator's golden rule before the Q&A, telling the audience to keep their queries to the panel "short and pithy"; Carter fields the panel's best question at about the 1:26:00 mark. "As you walk out...do your favorite little jig.")

Carter, in the video, says that Nike has worked with 70 health experts worldwide to study the problem. That effort resulted in the publication last September of a report, "Designed to Move," that details the world's physical inactivity epidemic.

"Every country in the world has a physical activity agenda," says Carter, wearing a FuelBand on her left wrist. "What we found is that nobody is investing in it."

She says it is essential that physical activity be emphasized with children -- "early positive experiences for children in physical education."

"An inactive kid who is getting their pleasure from video games... they're more likely to adopt those behaviors into their adulthood," she says.

As for all age levels, society needs to figure out how to find ways to "reintegrate physical activity back into life."

Keeping people physically active is, of course, in Nike's self interest. But it's a public health issue that the company has pursued since at least 2006 when it introduced NikeGO Head Start -- a partnership between the company and the National Head Start Association to do what Carter was emphasizing: Help kids be active.

-- Allan Brettman

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