Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa National Olympic Committee is in the midst of planning big for their Olympic Heart Day, slated for Feb. 24, from 6am - 9am. It’s open to the public and will be an event focused on activities that not only promote sports in the territory, but also encourages a ‘healthy heart, healthy life’.

FOR AMERICAN SAMOA — The American Samoa Comprehensive Cancer Control Factsheet Series 2010 states that in “a sample of 114 students ages 18-24 attending the American Samoa Community College”, it was found  that 62% of females and 41% of males were overweight or obese, despite using the more liberal Pacific Islander BMI scale.

It also found that “a gap exists between perceptions of healthy weight and actual BMI scores for youth.” For example, the majority of high school juniors felt they were at a healthy weight despite this being true for only a quarter of this population.

“The 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of 3,625 public high school students found only 27% of girls and 18% of boys describe themselves as overweight.

“A survey of 108 girls ages 13-18 attending 4 public high schools, including Manu’a High School, revealed that weight satisfaction decreases with age; 70% of girls ages 13-14 are happy with their weight compared to 55% of girls ages 17-18.

It is further reported that the “height and weight measurements of 4,225 2-5 years olds accessing the American Samoa Women Infants and Children (WIC) program in 2009 found 34% to be overweight or obese using a CDC age-specific BMI scale.