There’s some new evidence that all the efforts to cajole kids
into trading chips and candy for carrot sticks and yogurt really
do work. A widely publicized new study shows that school-based
nutrition programs in Philadelphia helped many of their students
avoid obesity and make better food choices. The schools that
implemented a broad-based plan to cut back on high-sugar and
high-fat foods, coupled with nutrition education, found that
fewer students became overweight. In the end, about 7 percent of
students who’d taken part in the program had significant weight
problems, compared to about 15 percent of students at the
schools in the control group. The study’s lead author, Gary D.
Foster, called the findings “a dramatic effect,” although he
acknowledged that there were still too many overweight children.
The study was published this week in the April edition of
Pediatrics. The researchers followed about 1,400 students,
grades four through six, in 10 Philadelphia schools for two
years. More than half the student