DRINK WATER: Obesity in Children can be helped A LOT by drinking water

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/researchers-discover-crazy-simple-way-kids-fight-obesity-and-its-not-about-eating?akid=14106.294211.RNPQXc&rd=1&src=newsletter1053273&t=8

New research proves that water may be the key to solving the childhood obesity crisis. A five-year study conducted by researchers at New York University and Syracuse University, and published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Pediatrics, has concluded that making water more available in public schools through self-serve water dispensers in cafeterias resulted in “statistically significant” declines in students’ weight.

Over the course of the study period, about 40 percent of New York City’s schools received a water jet as part of a program designed by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Department of Education. The water jets—large, clear, electronically powered jugs with a push lever to dispense water—each cost around $1,000.

The researchers analyzed more than one million students in over 1,200 elementary and middle schools across New York City, and compared students in schools with and without the water jets. Kids at schools that had water jets for at least three months experienced a reduction in standardized body mass index—.025 for boys and .022 for girls—compared to kids at schools without water jets. The adoption of water jets was associated with a .9 percentage point reduction in boys' likelihood of being overweight, while girls showed a .6 percentage point reduction.