Obesity in Students Not Linked to Food Stores Near School Grounds
by Karen Lachica in Nutrition on Jun 19, 2011
A recent research has known that the increased risk of children being obese or overweight is not associated with stores and fast food establishments situated next to their schools.
According to David E. Harris, the lead researcher from Portland’s University of Southern Maine, student obesity, most prevalent in kids, are not caused by stores near school grounds advertising and selling unhealthy food items. Unhealthy food is not only seen in stores and fast food enterprises near children’s school, it is everywhere. This factor has no important effect on the kid’s obesity.
For this research, experts have looked into the data of 552 students from 11 different high schools located in Maine and compared this to the nearness of their schools to fast food establishments and stores. They calculated the distance to every food store within a 1.24-mile distance from the school, which appears to be the nearest store to the school. They found out that out of 11, there were 10 schools that had at least one store that sold soda; 8 schools had at least one fast food establishment located less than a mile from the school grounds.
Students were asked to give their weight and height measurements. It showed that 73% of those students weighed normally, a quarter of them were obese, and less than 2% were considered underweight.
Furthermore, the research also presented that almost all of the students have soda once every week, and about 10% have soda every day. This holds also true for sports and energy drinks. Almost two-thirds of the students ate in stores offering burger and fries, and a lot go to pizza parlors.
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