From The Raleigh News & Observer: Middle school students targeted with an intensive effort to reduce obesity did no better at losing weight than their peers in schools without special programs, researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and elsewhere report. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved a three-year campaign at 42 schools around the country. It was aimed primarily at cutting the proportion of middle school children who are overweight or obese. At half the schools, lunchrooms offered more healthful choices, physical education teachers focused on movement instead of sports, classes taught good nutrition and lifestyle choices, and hallway posters and morning announcements included health messages. Yet children at those schools lost no more weight than did students at the remaining schools, where youngsters were simply measured but no interventions were provided.
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