Are schools making kids fat?

<body leftmargin="0" bgcolor="#000060" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFF00" vlink="#FF9900"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="95%" height="1"> <tr> <center> <td valign="top" width="33%" height="33"> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="5">Are schools making kids fat?</font></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><font size="1" face="Arial">March 30</font><font face="Arial"><font size="1">, 2005<br> Special to World Science<br> </font><br> </font><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>U.S. schools that allow frequent snacking, offer junk food and hold bake sales have more overweight students, a study has found.<br> <br> The findings come as what experts call an obesity epidemic is afflicting the United States and spreading to other countries.<br> <br> The study found that in schools, these factors were associated with higher body mass index, a frequently used measure of obesity, in middle school students. Body mass index measures weight in relation to height.<br> <br> The study appears in the December issue of the research journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.<br> <br> “Obesity has become one of the more complex and challenging public health issues of this decade, affecting two thirds of adults and almost one third (30 percent) of children,” the authors said.<br> <br> School environmental factors have been implicated in the rising childhood obesity rates, the researchers claimed. A la carte and vending programs that sell foods and beverages high in calories and low in nutrients are pervasive in schools, they said. <br> <br> Practices that may contribute to childhood obesity, the study noted, include bake sales and the teachers’ use of candy to reward good performance.<br> <br> Martha Y. Kubik and colleagues of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, examined data from 16 middle schools and their more than 3,000 eighth-grade students to investigate the association between body mass index.<br> <br> The researchers interviewed school administrators about food-related school policies and practices, and assessed food use guidelines and school-based health promotion activities. <br> <br> Based on interview answers, the researchers gave each school a “food practice score.” They found that students’ body mass index increased 10 percent for each “food practice” allowed in their school.<br> <br> Eight percent of students were classified as overweight, while fifteen percent were categorized as being at risk for overweight, the study found.<br> <br> Thirty-one percent of schools allowed food in the classroom, while 38 percent allowed beverages in the classroom, the researchers found. Nineteen percent of schools allowed beverages in hallways, while 31 percent allowed snacks in the hallway. <br> <br> “Food choice at school includes more than the foods and beverages offered as a part of school meal programs, a la carte, and in vending machines. Similarly, opportunities for eating during the school day extend well beyond the school lunchroom and breakfast and lunch,” the authors wrote. <br> <br> “Adolescence is a critical period for the development of obesity that persists into adulthood,” they added. “School nutrition policies that consistently promote and support healthy dietary practices among young adolescents are urgently needed.”</b></font></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><font face="Arial" size="2">* * *</font></p> <p><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#FFFFFF">Send us a <a href="mailto:editor@world-science.net">comment</a> on this story, or <a href="mailto:?Body=http://www.world-science.net/othernews/051205_schoolfoodfrm.htm">send it to a friend</a></font></p> <p></b></p> </center></td> </tr> </table> </body>