2.17.2016 A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics adds to a growing body of evidence supporting the importance of providing drinking water access in schools.
Results from the study show an association between a relatively low-cost water availability intervention and decreased student weight. Brian Elbel, PhD, MPH, an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone and NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in New York, led the study. The quasi-experimental study used school-level database of cafeteria equipment deliveries between 2008-2009 and 2012-2013 and included a sample of 1,227 New York, New York, public elementary schools and middle schools and over one million children.
Findings suggest there was a significant effect of water jets on standardized body mass index (BMI), such that the adoption of water jets was associated with 0.025 reduction of standardized BMI for boys and a 0.022 reduction of standardized BMI for girls. Individual BMI was calculated for all students in the sample using annual student-level height and weight measurements collected as part of New York’s FITNESSGRAM initiative.
