Nurse Scientist Shows Link Between School Food Practices and Student Obesity

NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Contact: Mary Pattock, School of Nursing (612-624-0939, patto017@umn.edu)

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA NURSE SCIENTIST SHOWS LINK BETWEEN SCHOOL FOOD PRACTICES AND STUDENT OBESITY

(Minneapolis, MN, November 21, 2005) - Do schools contribute to childhood obesity? That could be the case, according to a new study led by University of Minnesota School of Nursing researcher Martha Kubik. The findings appear in the December issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Analyzing data on food-related practices of 16 Twin Cities urban and suburban middle schools, Kubik found that for each of certain food-related practices allowed by a school, student body mass index (BMI) increased by 10 percent.

Previous studies have addressed school nutrition issues including the high-calorie, low-nutrition food offered in school lunches, vending machines and a la carte menus, but Kubik's is the first to support a link between certain school-wide food practices and the body weight of students.

The practices Kubik analyzed included allowing snacks in classrooms and hallways, using food as incentives and rewards, and sponsoring classroom and school-wide fundraisers in which students sell food. All practices were widespread - the average school permitted three of them, representing multiple opportunities for students to eat and drink throughout the day, and in some cases, all day.

The study stresses the influence school environments have on students, including the potential to contribute to obesity persisting into adulthood. (About 30 percent of American children and 65 percent of adults are overweight.) "If we want to stop the obesity epidemic among young people, it won't help to focus just on kids and what they do," Kubik says. "We have to look at what their environment supports them to do - what adults allow and even encourage that may contribute to poor health."

Martha Y. Kubik, Ph.D., RN, is an assistant professor and researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing. The data were collected as part of a nutrition intervention study led by Leslie Lytle, Ph.D., RD, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology.

The University of Minnesota School of Nursing, ranked among the nation's top nursing schools, is a leader in improving health care through research, education and service. Its nationally and world-renowned scientists discover practical health care treatments and solutions people can use today to improve their daily lives. The oldest continuing university-based school of nursing in the nation, it now has a combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment of approximately 850 students. The school produces 55 percent of the faculty in Minnesota's public and private nursing schools, advanced practice nurses and nurses who can assume leadership positions. The School of Nursing and the School of Public Health are part of the Academic Health Center, one of the most comprehensive facilities for health professionals in the nation, fostering interdisciplinary study, research and education.

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