Study co-author Rebecca Muckelbauer, a nutritionist at the Research Institute of Child Nutrition in Dortmund, Germany, said: “Drinking fountains won’t solve the obesity epidemic, but they could be effective components of the solution.”
Muckelbauer and her colleagues studied the water drinking habits of nearly 3,000 second and third graders attending schools in the neighbouring cities of Dortmund and Essen during the 2006-2007 academic year.
At the beginning of the school year, the researchers had water fountains installed in 17 of the schools, and worked with teachers to implement educational programmes to promote water drinking. The researchers surveyed the children about their drinking habits and measured their heights and weights at the beginning and end of the school year.
Over the school year, children in the schools given fountains upped their water consumption from about three to four cups a day, while those in the other schools continued to drink an average of three cups daily. Over the course of the study, the number of overweight children increased from 384 to 385 out of 1,641 (23.4 to 23.5%) at the schools with fountains. In contrast, the number of overweight kids at the other schools jumped from 339 to 364 out of 1,309 (25.9 to 27.8%).
Some studies suggest that drinking water increases the rate at which calories are burned, while others have hinted that water may temporarily decrease appetite.
Source: The Journal of Pediatrics
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