Getting kids to drink more water at school may prevent excess weight gain

BOSTON - A new study published in the journal Pediatrics finds that a school-based program that encourages children to drink more water may help prevent excess weight gain over time. 

The Water First program provides classroom lessons, tap water stations, and schoolwide water promotion over an entire school year. In this study, a team at Stanford University studied more than 1,200 fourth-graders from 18 schools in California's Bay Area and found that the percentage of kids who were overweight 15 months later held steady amongst those exposed to the Water First program, but rose by nearly 4 percent at schools without the program.

This suggests that providing kids with clean, readily available water and encouraging them to drink it may help prevent additional weight gain in these children.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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