Current study Water dispensers in schools greatly reduce the overweight in children

Water dispensers in schools could help fight obesity and obesity
Many children today are overweight. This is often due to the diet. Kids like to drink lemonade and eat lots of sweets. Consuming more water could help children reduce their obesity, according to a recent study.

Drinking water is known to be healthy. It has now been scientifically proven that water can even help children lose weight. Schools should set up more water dispensers to reduce child obesity, suggested US researchers based on the current study. The results of their study published the scientists in the journal "JAMA Pediatrics".

By putting water dispensers in public schools in the US, the weight of children has declined significantly. (Image: Maksim Kostenko / fotolia.com)

Installation of water dispensers reduces BMI and obesity in children
According to the US scientists, the installation of water dispensers in primary and secondary schools leads to a small but statistically significant decrease in body mass index (BMI). The BMI was reduced by 0.025 points in boys and has fallen 0.022 points in girls, if in the schools water dispensers were installed, explains Dr. med. Amy Ellen Schwartz from Syracuse University. The risk of obesity dropped by 0.9 percent in boys and 0.6 percent in girls. The effect of the water dispensers on the weight of the students is a small, but quite useful improvement, the doctors added. About forty percent of the children in US public schools are overweight, co-author dr. Brian Elbel of the "New York University School of Medicine".

Schools should set up water dispensers in the cafeteria
The water dispensers even seem to influence the sales of milk in the cafeteria. There has been a significant decrease in chocolate-flavored products, the researchers report. This reduction in milk sales could explain the impact on BMI, some physicians suggested. I was not surprised that the BMI was reduced by increased water intake when I realized that this was causing sales of chocolate milk to decrease, explains Skylar Griggs of the Boston Children's Hospital. Chocolate milk is milk, but still contains very large amounts of sugar. Drinking water dispensers in the cafeteria are a good way to combat child obesity. Although a water cooler costs only about $ 1,000, this amount is a heavy burden on the budget of some school districts. Despite the price of the water donors, this method is relatively inexpensive compared to other more intensive obesity strategies, the scientists explain in their study.

Limited budget funds complicate the deployment of water dispensers
According to the scientists, the cost of water dispensers can be a barrier to sustainable access to water in schools. Especially given the many competing demands for the limited budget in many educational institutions. The study examines data from 1,227 public elementary and secondary schools in New York. In the end, the data was collected from more than one million children. The water dispenser program began at five school canteens and by the end of the study period, two-thirds of the schools surveyed installed water dispensers. However, it was not clear what quantities of water and which drinks the students took exactly after the water dispensers were built, said the doctors. The elimination of high-sugar drinks in schools is really a big step in the fight against obesity. The city of New York had already begun before the study began with the water dispensers. It would therefore be very interesting to see how the water donors program would affect schools that continue to sell high-sugar drinks so far, the researchers said.