Study Highlights That Addition Of Water Fountains To Schools Can Check The Occurrence Of Obesity
Date: 30th March 2009
A latest study undertaken to evaluate the impact of water consumption on the weight of children makes it apparent that setting up water fountains in schools and implementing various other measures such as educating children on the benefits of water intake and giving away water bottles in classrooms is capable of significantly reducing the risk of a child falling prey to overweight and obesity.
The experiment was undertaken by extracting information from 3,000 second and third graders in around 32 German grade schools with regard to their water intake and altogether the weight of the kids was taken. However, in a couple of these schools, lessons on the advantages of water intake were provided to the teachers. Also, water fountains were constructed and water bottles were given to the kids to fill up at the start of the day.
In the initial phase, as the experiment progressed, no specific statistical difference was known with regard to the presence of overweight children in certain groups. But at the completion of the school year, it became evident that school kids that were provided instructions to drink water, were 30 per cent less prone to become a victim of overweight.
In the study, overall water intake was calculated from the fountains and total beverage consumption was evaluated on the basis of the self-reports submitted by parents and students. However, the statistics thus acquired proved that water consumption was really advantageous for children likely to become victims of weight problems.
It was also observed that the experiment failed to yield substantial results regarding the statistics on the intake of sugary beverages as well as in relation to the differences in statistical scores of Body Mass Index (BMI).
The specific results derived from the study have been published in the journal “Pediatrics.”
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/ |
