Ensuring healthy school dinners and lessons for children and parents about nutrition reduces obesity, a five-year study found. Policies including swapping fizzy drinks for water, sending children home with nutritional newsletters and not rewarding them with treats led to good eating habits. In schools which used a nutritional programme pupils were less likely to see increases in body mass index (BMI). With obesity a rising health threat in Western countries, the researchers said such interventions could lower young people's weights and avoid disease later in life. As many as one in two US teenagers and one in three UK teenagers are overweight or obese.
The study enrolled 600 pupils across 12 schools in New Haven, Connecticut, with children an average age of 11 years old at the beginning. The schools were divided into four groups of interventions: nutrition only, physical activity only, nutrition and physical activity (dual), or delayed. In delayed interventions no health-focused messages related to obesity prevention were used. The interventions tried included encouraging healthy food choices in cafeterias, providing alternatives to unhealthy food during celebrations, and taste-testing new foods. Physical activity interventions included promoting walking or cycling to school, integrating physical activity into classroom lessons and fitness challenges. Exercise policies alone had little or no impact on BMI, the research, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found.
