Photo Credit: Getty Images Despite the trend of disappearing
recess periods and poor school lunch options (you know exactly
what I mean if you saw those early episodes of Jamie Oliver’s
Food Revolution), a new study from Temple University, published
in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that a “school-
based program” had a positive effect on overweight middle
schoolers. Not surprisingly, the program included healthier food
choices, phys ed classes, and education about healthy behavior.
But there actually was an unexpected finding in the three-year
study: that the childhood obesity rate may be on a decline, no
matter what. Designed to determine whether or not such a school-
based approach could cut kids’ risk factors for type II
diabetes, the research followed students in intervention schools
(which implemented the healthier programs) and control schools
(in which nothing changed). Both groups lost weight. In fact,
there was a 4 percent reduction of students who were considered
overweight or obese in bot