The Weekly Skinny: All the healthy news you need (7-17-09)

Want your kids to do better in school? Exercise just might do the trick. FatFighterTV has a look at this story and other diet and fitness headlines making news this week.

Fit kids get better grades
Here's another benefit to being active. A new report from the New York City school system shows elementary- and middle-school students who are physically fit do better academically than their out-of-shape classmates. The study found students in the top third of the school system's fitness scale had higher math and reading scores on average than students in the bottom third.

Blacks are most obese group in the U.S.
The obesity epidemic seems to be taking an especially hard toll on blacks. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds nearly 36-percent of black Americans are obese compared to about 29 percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of whites. Obesity rates were 40-percent or greater among blacks in five states - Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oregon.

Balance training may help prevent ankle sprains
Ever sprained an ankle? How's your balance? A new report finds athletes who have sprained an ankle can significantly cut their chances of re-injury by doing balance exercises. Did you know about 23,000 people sprain their ankle every day in the US? Ouch!

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[photo credit: Getty Images]