In 2007, the White Paper on a Strategy for Europe on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity [ 11] called the Member States and the Union to take pro-active steps to stop the decline in physical activity levels.
Perhaps we should take the decline in physical activity a bit more seriously.
There has been no commensurate decline in physical activity, in either country – in the UK, exercise levels have increased over the last 20 years.
Mr Sunderland said the growth in the number of overweight people was "mirrored by a decline in physical activity and the growth in out-of-home food consumption".
Dr. Schleifer, who walks regularly to keep the middle-age pounds off, traces this "obesification of America" to the increased availability of high-fat, high-calorie food and a decline in physical activity.
Yet despite rising levels of obesity and a decline in physical activity, the group could find no evidence of a link between the body-mass index of a mother and the sex of her child.
Now they're using motorcycles and scooters, and five years from now these will be replaced by cars". Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika, an epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, said not enough attention was being paid to the decline in physical activity, especially in developing countries.
For the older age groups, competitive swimming helped prevent the decline in physical activity with age [42].
Rather, HFCS supporters argue that obesity is as much a function of a corresponding decline in physical activity during the same period that HFCS consumption increased.
The overall health implications of the decline in physical activity in our schools are certainly scary.
In the conclusion of the paper, the researchers lament the "rapid decline in physical activity opportunities for children at school," and say policies that reduce or replace these opportunities in an effort to increase academic achievement may have "unintended consequences".
