President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition

The President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition (PCSFN) is a federal advisory committee that aims to promote healthy eating and physical activity for all people, regardless of background or ability. It began in 1956, when President Eisenhower established the President's Council on Youth Fitness, and after more than six decades it operates as the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition. Executive Order 14327 of July 31, 2025 revitalizes the Council and calls for the reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test. The Council is supported through the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.

The Council began in 1956, when President Eisenhower established the President's Council on Youth Fitness. After more than six decades, it became the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition, striving to engage, educate, and empower all Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition. Its origins trace to December 1953, when the Journal of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation published an article, "Muscular Fitness and Health," coauthored by Dr. Hans Kraus and Bonnie Prudden that sounded an alarm about the poor state of youth fitness in America. Within two years, another article by Dr. Kraus and Bonnie Prudden (under the name Ruth P. Hirschland) in the New York State Journal of Medicine reported results of a study that administered the Kraus-Weber Tests to approximately 4,400 students between ages 6 and 16 in public school systems across the United States and to approximately 3,000 European students in the same age range in Switzerland, Italy, and Austria. A report by Dr. Kraus and Dr. Sonja Weber created concern about the physical fitness of America's children relative to their European counterparts. Executive Order 14327 of July 31, 2025 revitalizes the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition and calls for the reestablishment of the Presidential Fitness Test; it also allows for continued promotion of youth sports, provides for the work of the Council to promote the physical, mental, and civic benefits of daily movement, exercise, and good nutrition, and engages every sector—public and private, civilian and military—in creating a national culture of strength, vitality, and excellence.

A federal advisory committee promoting healthy eating and physical activity for all people, regardless of background or ability.

1. 1President's Council | odphp.health.govodphp.health.gov
2. 2History of the Council | odphp.health.govodphp.health.gov
3. 3About ODPHP | odphp.health.govodphp.health.gov
4. 4PCSFN | odphp.health.govodphp.health.gov
5. 5President's Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutritionwikidata.org