HHS picks activity panel

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has named a 17-member expert panel to review the science behind the next federal physical activity guidelines. (ajmc.com) The committee was appointed in June 2016 to develop the evidence base for the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, with five public meetings scheduled and webcasts planned for each session. (ajmc.com) Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans are the federal government’s main recommendations on how much exercise people need to improve health, and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion says they are used by health professionals and policymakers. (odphp.health.gov) The first edition came out in 2008, and Health.gov says later updates included a 2013 midcourse report and a second edition released in 2018. (odphp.health.gov) That timeline matters because the 2016 committee was the formal step between the 2008 guidelines and the 2018 rewrite. Health.gov says the advisory group examined scientific evidence and submitted its report to the Health and Human Services secretary in February 2018. (odphp.health.gov) The 2018 guidelines expanded the federal advice beyond the 2008 edition. The second edition added guidance for children ages 3 to 5, discussed brain health, cancer risk, fall prevention, sleep, and sedentary behavior, and dropped the rule that adult activity had to come in bouts of at least 10 minutes. (odphp.health.gov) The core adult target remained familiar: at least 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activity on two or more days a week. Children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 were advised to get 60 minutes or more of physical activity daily. (odphp.health.gov; cdc.gov) Health.gov says the 2018 advisory committee worked for 21 months, took public comments, and produced the scientific report HHS used alongside input from federal agencies and the public to write the final guidelines. (odphp.health.gov) The panel’s creation also fit a broader federal process. A Federal Register notice said the committee was re-established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act as a time-limited body created to review evidence and advise HHS. (federalregister.gov) By the time HHS published the second edition in November 2018, the review had turned a 17-member advisory panel into the government’s updated playbook for how Americans ages 3 and older should move. (odphp.health.gov)