What does the new study say?
After three years, students who had been overweight or obese at the start of the study were 21 percent less likely to be obese if their school had adopted the changes. Students at these schools also had other signs of a lower diabetes risk, including smaller average waist sizes, and lower levels of insulin in their blood after not eating for a while. (High levels of 'fasting' insulin can indicate a greater risk of type 2 diabetes.)
While children who were overweight at the start of the study did better if they took part in the diabetes prevention programme, surprisingly, the researchers found no overall difference between the schools in their percentages of overweight or obese pupils. In fact, both school groups had similar declines in their total numbers of overweight students. The researchers can't be certain why this happened, but they offer a couple of theories. All parents were notified if their child was at high risk of diabetes, so perhaps some parents made changes at home to help their child lose weight. Also, the comparison schools might have implemented their own programmes to improve their students' health without the researchers knowing.
The study didn't say how many students developed type 2 diabetes.
How reliable are the findings?
This was a randomised controlled trial, which is the best type of study for finding out whether a treatment works. It was large and followed students for a long time. This makes it less likely that the findings were down to chance.
However, we need to be a bit cautious about some of these results. The study was designed primarily to spot differences in the overall numbers of students who were overweight or obese, and this guided how many schools and students were recruited for the research. However, some of the study's most compelling findings came from looking at a subgroup – students who had been obese or overweight at the start of the study. This was a much smaller group of students, so we can't be as certain about these findings.
Also, all the schools in the study were based in the US and had a high proportion of black, Hispanic, and low-income students – three groups at higher risk of type 2 diabetes in the US. So, we can't be certain that we'd find similar results with other groups of students.
What does this mean for me?
This study shows that a school-based programme focused on diet, exercise, and health education may help decrease certain risk factors for diabetes, such as being obese. This is good news. However, such school-based programmes are not yet widespread.
What should I do now?
If your child is overweight or obese, a healthy, low-fat diet and regular exercise can help them lose weight and decrease their risk of diabetes. And they don't need a school programme to do this. Encouragement and guidance at home is probably an even better approach.
Read the full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/besttreatments/2010/jun/29/schoolbased-food-and-fitness-programmes-may-cut-diabetes-risk.
Source and thanks to www.gaurdian.co.uk.
