An article by ABC News claims that “Junk Food at School isn’t Making Kids Fat.” The article is about a study, published in the journal of Sociology of Education, and is called the “Competitive Food Sales in Schools and Childhood Obesity: A Longitudinal Study.” The study followed about 20,000 students, from kindergarten through eighth grade in 1,000 schools (both public and private). By examining the trend of the children’s weight, they found that, by eighth grade, 35.5 percent of kids in schools with junk food were overweight, while 34.8 percent in schools without junk food were overweight. The results found, according to the article, are “a statistically insignificant increase.”
It’s not that middle schoolers aren’t eating junk food; indeed they are, just like most Americans. It’s that most of the junk food they’re eating is not coming through the schools.
“Schools only represent a small portion of children’s food environment,” said Jennifer Van Hook, a Professor of Sociology and Demography at Pennsylvania State University and lead author of the study.
Read the rest of the article on ABCNews.com here. It seems that healthy eating, and a healthy lifestyle, truly does start at home. Learn more about staying active, and eating healthy, from Tommy the Tomato.
