Healthier school food and physical activity environments matter for childhood obesity

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/ru-hsf070820.php


News Release 8-Jul-2020
Rutgers University


Students at elementary and secondary schools that offer healthier food offerings and more opportunities for physical activities have a healthier body mass index, according to Rutgers researchers.

The study, published in Preventive Medicine Reports, uses professional measures of students' height and weight - the gold standard for studying childhood obesity - in a study on the effects of a school's food offerings and physical activity environment.

Almost one in five children and adolescents in the United States are obese. Since children eat up to two meals per day and can get 40 percent of their daily physical activity at schools, schools play a major role in obesity-related behaviors. Although recent policies and programs, such as the National School Lunch Program, have focused on promoting healthier school environments, there is little evidence of the consequences for children's weight.

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Researchers found that healthier food offerings and a greater number of physical activity facilities were associated with lower body mass index, on average, for students. Schools that offered an additional unhealthy item in vending machines were associated with higher student weight and those that had an additional outdoor physical activity facility correlated with lower student weight.

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