Study: Bake Sales Cause Fat Kids

Research Finds Link Between Food Rewards, Bake Sales And Obesity

(AP) 
Since food rewards are banned, teachers give students pencils, protractors and other "tools of academia" bearing the school logo.

The Minnesota study looked at 3,088 eighth-graders at 16 middle schools in Minneapolis-St. Paul and whether the schools had seven specific "food practices" that would allow students access to food outside of normal meal programs. Sixty-nine percent allowed the use of food for incentives and 56 percent allowed food in classroom fund-raising.

They found that the body-mass index of students — a calculation based on weight and height — was 10 percent higher for each additional food practice allowed in their school.

The study was published Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a publication of the American Medical Association.

Teachers in these schools commonly used candy, cookies, doughnuts, non-diet soft drinks and pizza as incentives, and were less likely to give out healthier items such as pretzels, fruits, vegetables, water or low-fat milk, the study said.

Dr. David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston, who wasn't involved with the study called it "very interesting." He said it "raises concern for the inappropriate use of food in schools for purposes other than the nutritional well-being of children."

Karal Ann Marling, a University of Minnesota professor who writes extensively about American popular culture, dislikes vending machines in schools, but lamented the threat to the institution of the bake sale.

"It seems to me to be flying in the face of American tradition," she said, suggesting that the first place people should look is the school cafeteria. "Leave the ladies with the cupcakes alone!"