Schooled in munching

EATING opportunities abound for kids in school, and not just in the cafeteria. Students eat in classrooms and hallways, buy and then nibble at fundraising caramel corn and chocolate, and are rewarded with cookies, candy or maybe a fast-food coupon when they turn in work on time.

A report in the December issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine shows that school and classroom policies that permit such liberal snacking put students at risk for gaining weight. The study, led by Martha Kubik, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota School of Nursing, examined data from 3,088 eighth-graders in 16 middle schools. It found that students’ body mass index, a calculation based on weight and height, was 10% greater for each of seven school food practice policies allowed.

Those policies included whether food or beverages were allowed in classrooms or in hallways; whether food was used as a reward for students; and whether individual classrooms or schools raised money by selling food.

Kubik also scored the 16 schools from zero (for no unhealthful policies) to seven (for schools that had all the bad policies). She reported that the average score was three, with 69% of schools using food as a reward and 56% selling food to raise money.

“When we talk about food in schools, we need to look not just at cafeterias and vending machines,” Kubik says. There’s a lot of other school-supported eating going on -- all day long, Kubik says.