School candy and soda bans work -- obesity rates drop

Were you wondering if children would respond to the schools' switching out soda and candy in school for healthful food choices? One study says yes, loud and clear.

A Philadelphia school's candy ban is a success, with child obesity rates cut by half when compared with schools without nutrition programs, according to reports from the Associated Press and CBS News.

Here's a quick summary from the Center for Children and Families:

Five Philadelphia elementary schools replaced sodas with fruit juice. They scaled back snacks and banished candy. They handed out raffle tickets for wise food choices. They spent hours teaching kids, their parents and teachers about good nutrition. The results: The number of kids who gained weight during the two-year experiment was half the number of kids who got heavier in schools that didn’t make those efforts.

“It’s a really dramatic effect from a public health point of view. That’s the good news,” said Gary Foster, director of the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University, and lead author of the Philadelphia schools study being published Monday in the April issue of Pediatrics. The bad news: There were still plenty of new overweight kids in the five schools – more than 7% of them became overweight compared with the 15% in the schools that didn’t make changes. The Philadelphia schools researchers said their findings suggest such programs should start earlier, include gym classes and food sources outside school.

It makes sense. Give good information to parents, teachers and children, give them an array of good choices and they'll learn. We hope Valley schools are measuring the success of their own nutrition programs and comparing the results with the Philadelphia program. If the results are better, they should share the information. If they are not as good, time for a course correction.