WXYZ Detroit – Staff Writer
Parents, you need to listen carefully because poor fitness at a young age affects your child’s health later in life. Over 1.1 million kids in 50 countries between the ages of 9 and 17 took part in a popular field test, the 20-meter shuttle run. How did American kids do? At the bottom. We ranked 47th place out of 50! You may be thinking it’s our western lifestyle but kids in Canada ranked much higher in 19th place. The study points to wealth inequality. Countries with large gaps between the rich and poor often had low fitness levels because poverty is linked to lower physical activity.(more)