Home Schooled Children Leaner than PS peers

[RootAnn]

Didn't see this posted yet on here, but a study just came out (20 Sept 2013) in the journal Obesity that home schooled kids were not as fat as their public schooled counterparts.

 

I think the best part of the article (not the study - which I didn't read) was the study's lead author indicating that they thought the results would be switched from what they ended up being.

[kiana]

Yeah, and showing that activity level and calorie intake were very similar -- except at the damn lunch. The one that in many cases you can't even pack anymore because the school knows what's best for you.

[Farrar]

Yeah, reading between the lines (sounds like they only included kids eating the school food) they expected that the homeschoolers would be eating worse because they assumed the institutional food would be better and the parent food would be bad.  Well, wrong.

 

This is not to say that parent food is always better or that institutional food can't be better...  but it really does go right into that clearly false assumption that you shouldn't be allowed to send your kids with their own lunch.

[RootAnn]

See, I thought they figured since that homeschooled kids never got out, they would have a much lower level of physical activity than the public schooled kids. 

 

The physical activity level was basically the same!

[My3girls]

I'm not surprised. My kids went to public school, and not only was the menu full of crap food, but they allowed them to go back for more as much as they wanted as long as there was $$ on the account. I had to go to the school and sign forms to have all the extras and seconds turned off.

[Samiam]

I'm not surprised. My kids went to public school, and not only was the menu full of crap food, but they allowed them to go back for more as much as they wanted as long as there was $$ on the account. I had to go to the school and sign forms to have all the extras and seconds turned off.

  

 

It's not like that at all here in our school system.  Only one meal per student...regardless of $$$ on the account.  As a matter of fact, the children are required to have a fruit on their plate or vegetable.  Not fruit I'd choose...it's junk like canned pears, canned peaches etc...but still...it's not like they are dishing up Twinkies.

 

The study is just foolish.  Americans are obese in general.  Regardless of where you are educated.  I've seen overweight homeschool children.  I've seen overweight public school children.  I've seen children who are within weight, underweight..etc etc etc.   It really does not matter where you are educated..it matters about the child's genetic DNA, family health, family eating patterns.   Perhaps they should have done a study on those things.

[SKL]

I suspect that in addition to "missing out" on school lunch, the homeschooled kids might benefit from not having to sit in a desk for such long periods of time.  I know they said the activity level is the same, but are they counting the freedom to move around a little during instruction time?  And another thing - having enough sleep - which impacts weight.

 

My kids are not homeschooled but I do pack their lunches and snacks, and I make them move outside of school hours.  Otherwise I'm pretty sure at least one of them would be overweight.

[RootAnn]

The study is just foolish.  Americans are obese in general.  Regardless of where you are educated.  I've seen overweight homeschool children.  I've seen overweight public school children.  I've seen children who are within weight, underweight..etc etc etc.   It really does not matter where you are educated..it matters about the child's genetic DNA, family health, family eating patterns.   Perhaps they should have done a study on those things.

 

There are studies on those sorts of things and there will continue to be, IMO. The interesting thing about this one is it appears they were able to cancel out such things as genetics and just look at where you get your education. It really looks like they had a bias going in and were knocked on their a$$es when they reached a different conclusion.

 

If you read the article, the lead author is now studying some of what you want them to:

 

 

 

Cardel is now focusing her efforts on understanding the influence of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic differences on dietary intakes and obesity risk in elementary school students.

[Hunter]

This study just shows how misunderstood homeschooling and homeschooling families still are. I wouldn't have expected anything other than leaner children, for a variety of reasons.

[Spy Car]

I'd be very skeptical of a study that chose to focus only on children living in "ground zero" of the most obese corner of America (Birmingham, Alabama) as the test subjects. This area has a greater than 30% obesity rate. Something is very wrong with the food culture down there.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

Actually, that seems like a very good place to focus on.  I need to read the article though...

It is a good place to focus on if one is going to compare it to areas with healthier food cultures.

 

But being "leaner" than the fattest people in America ain't much to crow about. If you know what I mean.

 

Bill

[Spy Car]

How is that not being much to crow about?  If you live in a culture and area where there is a huge percentage of overweight/obese people and you aren't in that category and you are doing something radically different (homeschooling as an example), how is that worth a consideration?

It is certainly better than the alternative, but one does not have to do something "radically different" to best the manifestly unhealthful food culture of the region. Choosing the most obese place in America (only) skews the study.

 

Bill

[abacus2]

It is a good place to focus on if one is going to compare it to areas with healthier food cultures.

 

But being "leaner" than the fattest people in America ain't much to crow about. If you know what I mean.

 

Bill

 

I could be mistaken, but didn't they compare homeschoolers and public schoolers in the same area to each other? I didn't get the impression that they compared public school students in a specific location to homeschoolers from all over.

[Spy Car]

I could be mistaken, but didn't they compare homeschoolers and public schoolers in the same area to each other? I didn't get the impression that they compared public school students in a specific location to homeschoolers from all over.

The whole study is not available to read unless one has access, but the impression I got is that all the students (PS and Homeschooled) were from Birmingham, Alabama, which is in the middle of the most obese (by far) region of the nation.

 

 

Bill

[Jean in Newcastle]

The whole study is not available to read unless one has access, but the impression I got is that all the students (PS and Homeschooled) were from Birmingham, Alabama, which is in the middle of the most obese (by far) region of the nation.

 

 

Bill

That region was probably chosen on purpose because the generalized culture itself supports obesity - so any changes would be seen as going against that.  I would assume that the local schools there are trying to change that culture, so the fact that the homeschoolers are leaner would have even more impact.  

[LucyStoner]

Sleep. Sleep matters. A lot more than most people think it does.

[Hunter]

Ahhh, I get the surprise of the study now. The schools thought they were combatting the local culture. All parents were considered the problem. The school was looked at as the savior. Knowing the context makes this study all the more interesting. :-)

[DarlaS]

It is a good place to focus on if one is going to compare it to areas with healthier food cultures.

 

But being "leaner" than the fattest people in America ain't much to crow about. If you know what I mean.

 

Bill

Were the homeschooled kids from another area?

[boscopup]

The whole study is not available to read unless one has access, but the impression I got is that all the students (PS and Homeschooled) were from Birmingham, Alabama, which is in the middle of the most obese (by far) region of the nation.

 

 

Bill

 

All the homeschooled kids I know in Birmingham (and I know several families) are quite lean, as are my kids (I'm farther north, but still in Alabama). In fact, I need to go buy some kids' belts this week, because my younger two kids have just gone up a size in pants for length, but their pants fall down because their waists aren't big enough. ;) In my own area (about 1.5 hours north of Birmingham), I can think of ONE homeschooled family offhand that has chunky kids. I'm sure there are more - I don't know all the homeschooled families. But what I'm saying is that your perception of the kids in Alabama may not be a correct one. There are plenty of skinny kids here, especially homeschooled ones. The adults here tend to be a lot fatter than the kids.

 

I imagine that homeschooled kids might be leaner partially because the parents are putting so much into making sure their kids have a good education, that they're also more likely to think about diet. That and the schools' ideas of "healthy" aren't necessarily healthy. :tongue_smilie: Another thing may be that Birmingham City Schools have a large population of people with lower socioeconomic status. I do wonder if they were comparing homeschooled kids living in Birmingham proper or in the suburbs, because that will make a big difference. Someone living in "the projects" is not likely to have as healthy a diet as someone living in a fancy subdivision in a suburb. Healthy foods are more expensive than unhealthy, unfortunately (though at least people down there have some access to grocery stores with produce, which I realize some inner city folks don't have access to in other large cities).

 

As far as meals go... Many schools are encouraging kids to come for free breakfasts as well as lunch. They don't have free dinner up this way (that I know of), though I don't know about Birmingham, since they may do some things different there.

[Farrar]

Ahhh, I get the surprise of the study now. The schools thought they were combatting the local culture. All parents were considered the problem. The school was looked at as the savior. Knowing the context makes this study all the more interesting. :-)

 

Yes, that's exactly what I took from it.

 

I think in the context, the location was the best place to make this study.  I'm not "crowing" about it because I'm like "rah, homeschool!"  Obviously homeschooling is not the main factor in this at all.  It's because I think there's a fundamental flaw when institutions assume they always know better than parents.  That was the case here and the study showed it was an incorrect assumption.  I also think despite the supposed guidelines that the school lunch program is abysmal across the country, though, as the study points out, the guidelines have been revised since they did their research, so it's possible the results wouldn't be sustained.

 

I think the study tries to dismiss the results by saying that homeschool families may just be unique - like, maybe we care about our kids' health more or have the ability to feed them hot lunches instead of sugary prefab lunch food.  That may be true, but I think they want to cling to this idea that the institution can fix the problem.  It has to be part of the solution, but it can't be the whole one.

[My3girls]

The entire premise of this study is so, I don't know what the word is, self-important, condescending, I'm not sure--thing I've ever heard! The very idea that the schools know how to feed my kids better than I do! And the authors must have never been around any homeschooled kids and seen what they do...yesterday after school (by noon) mine were outside riding bikes down a hill, running about outside, taking ballet class, etc. And this was after a homemade lunch of bean burritos and broccoli quesadillas! Did the authors not realize that the kids only get one meal a day at school, or have those schools already succeeded in keeping the kids in the study for all three meals?

 

Kids get breakfast and lunch.  I had to turn off the breakfast, too, because my kid was eating breakfast at home and then going to school and getting a pastry.  The school never tells the parents this stuff so unless the parent makes a point in finding out or their kid is honest and tells them, the parent never knows.  My dd8 was having double breakfast and double lunches for a week or so before I discovered it.  I tried sending lunches but even when she had a lunchbox, she was still allowed to go through the lunch line.  I had to physically go to the school and speak to the cafeteria manager and put it in writing that I wanted to all turned off.  Their reasoning was that parents get mad when we tell their kids no.  Really??

 

Some have asked if schools really think they know better than the parents.  Yes, they do think this about most everything.  They have that degree in education and childhood development so that makes them experts.  Parents just spoil their kids and let them do whatever they want.  Oh, and don't forget that school nutritionist they have on staff.  If she says pizza every Friday is ok then by gosh it is. <rolleyes>  This is why my kids were pulled from ps.  I fought the good fight and finally gave up.  You can only beat your head against a brick wall for so long. 

[MBM]

I didn't read the study but the article mentions that the difference is that school lunches are less healthy. If they are planning to create healthier lunches, that is good. I am all for that. Public school meals can be horrible. For example, Chicago Public Schools used to serve a breakfast called the *Power Breakfast* which turned out to be a donut. Ridiculous. The meals served at Chicago schools are big contracts given as political favors and some families have had them for generations, especially the milk contracts. These are big money.

 

I'm happy to see healthier meal plans in our area. Our suburb has a service that offers organic brown bag lunches for about $5 and they are pretty good. Everything is freshly made and packed in the morning and then the bags get delivered to the schools before lunch time. Teachers like them, too. It was created by a mother who couldn't stand the hot lunch program her kids had. My youngest's former school now serves organic hot lunches. The menu looks good but I haven't actually seen the food. I did not like the hot lunch program when my son attended so he took in a lunch from home every day.

 

Italy has good lunch programs. Generally, Italians expect meals to taste good and be healthy. They also eat a lot less sugar than we do. If you are ever there, see if you can visit a *mensa* for lunch. People I know in the U.S. who've eaten at them said it was some of the best food they've ever had. That's what kids (and adults) should be getting here in the US, too. We can do much better.

 

Regarding physical activity (which the article mentioned was similar in both groups), the Naperville public schools in Illinois are doing a good job keeping kids healthy with their gym program. The idea is to help the kids develop positive life-long habits. IIRC, less than 3% of the kids are obese when they graduate.

 

http://sparkinglife.org/page/naperville-central-high-school

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/a-physical-education-in-naperville-ill/

 

Unfortunately, Naperville's hot lunch program is mostly fast food dreck but they do offer some healthy options.

[LucyStoner]

School breakfast here is appalling. Like a donut stick and a few ounces of juice. If I fed that to my sons they would be starving before 9am. School lunches are better from what I saw. Parents can pack lunches too and it seemed in the younger grades most did. The homeschool center for the district has pretty great lunches. They have to get cold boxed lunches from a central kitchen and it is all fruit and veggies with sandwiches on ww or entree salads or yogurts. The district does a better job with those than the regular hot school lunches. I'm not sure why the breakfasts remain so low quality.

[elegantlion]

My son is genetically lean, but as a homeschooler he has more freedom to move around. He fidgets and wiggles and used a balance ball as a chair for a while. No doubt it would have irked a public school teacher (because it did me from time to time) and he would have been sushed into stillness. He's not ADD, he's just a mover. He also sleeps more, eats when hungry, not on some predetermined 20 minute schedule, and he can get outside multiple times a day even as a teen. 

[...................]

I'd be very skeptical of a study that chose to focus only on children living in "ground zero" of the most obese corner of America (Birmingham, Alabama) as the test subjects. This area has a greater than 30% obesity rate. Something is very wrong with the food culture down there.

 

Bill

 

I agree. Something is seriously  wrong. 

 

I can't even understand who would think that institutional school food is healthier than parent food! 

[Laura Corin]

Is there a class aspect to this?  I don't know about in the US, but in the UK, people in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to be obese.  It's visible in our two local schools: the private school has very few overweight children and none that I would identify as obese.  The state school has a much wider range.  

 

In the area studied, are middle class people likely to be leaner and are home educated children more likely to be middle class?

 

L

[lea_lpz]

I don't see why this would be surprising. After all, they spend less time seated Ina desk overall and this have more time to just play and they can eat food at home which is going to be healthier than cafeteria food or a largely processed food lunch that is generally packed hurriedly to make it school on time. Not only that but mom or dad are there to moniter that they eat their meals, verses mom who packs a healthy lunch that's traded for less healthy options or thrown away.

[Mandylubug]

I'd be very skeptical of a study that chose to focus only on children living in "ground zero" of the most obese corner of America (Birmingham, Alabama) as the test subjects. This area has a greater than 30% obesity rate. Something is very wrong with the food culture down there.

 

Bill

It's all the deep fried oreos and snickers :D j/k that's in GA :p

[Mandylubug]

On note of the study. I think limiting it to JUST the kids that ate the school lunches vs the kids homeschooled that it would be that way. When mine attended PS here in GA for a while, even after the "new and improved" food programs, they would beg me to eat breakfast there. So, one week I allowed it and watched what they consumed. It was typically, chocolate milk with poptarts and fruit in HEAVY syrup... and that was considered nutritious. The lunches were packed full of carbs and hardly any meat. What meat was provided was fried typically or prefried and frozen and then baked by the school so therefore called "baked"

[Spy Car]

I agree. Something is seriously  wrong. 

 

I can't even understand who would think that institutional school food is healthier than parent food!

Well, "parent" food in some places (and more accurately, in some families) is pretty durn unhealthful.

 

School lunch (and breakfast) programs, which for some hungry children may be the only meal they eat during the day, have never been especially healthful, and have had as a main purpose getting rid of "surplus" food-stuffs that were subsidized by the USDA as part of a "farmer support" program.

 

We can take some small cheer in knowing children who get school meals are not "literally starving," but these meals are hardly examples of healthful eating.

 

A school lunch program "could" (in theory) provide vibrantly healthful lunches. It would take a different sort of commitment, and could not just be seen as a way to get rid of "surplus" food.

 

As it stands, most school lunches in most communities are pretty bad. Doing better than that is not clearing a very high bar.

 

Bill

[SKL]

The lunches they serve at my kids' school are also really scary.  It would be fine for an occasional treat but not every day.  My kids pack, but sometimes they are given extras at school (even though I do not pay for them).  Which bugs me because hello, there is a reason I pack my kids' lunches.  I know they may trade certain items, but they don't need to be given junk food that I didn't pack.  :/  If my eldest thinks she's going to get something sugary, she will eat very little of her food to "save room" for the treat.  (And then she won't be able to do her work all afternoon.)

 

Meanwhile as she reacts to the sugar by not focusing on her work etc., she gets to lose recess.  Brilliant.

[Spy Car]

Is there a class aspect to this?  I don't know about in the US, but in the UK, people in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to be obese.  It's visible in our two local schools: the private school has very few overweight children and none that I would identify as obese.  The state school has a much wider range.  

 

In the area studied, are middle class people likely to be leaner and are home educated children more likely to be middle class?

 

L

Yes. Spot-on.

 

We (or at least I) can't access the full study to see if they accounted for socio-economic differences, but it is a huge factor.

 

Also, people in more affluent areas tend to pack lunches for their school children rather than feeding them the substandard school lunches. Poorer people don't always feel they have luxury of turning down "free" or subsidized food. The problem is that the meals don't provide high quality nutrition. So it is unsurprising that kids who have no alternatives will veer towards obesity (especially in families where the school lunch is "the best" nutrition they get all day).

 

Bill

[MinivanMom]

I just googled Birmingham City Schools and took a look at their October menus.  I'm not sure how to link it, because it's in an Adobe file.  Here are the highlights:

 

For breakfast:

Waffle sticks w/sausage

Breakfast Pizza

Biscuit & Grits

Cheese Toast

French toast sticks w/sausage

Pancake on a stick (I think that means the kind of corndogs that have sausage in the middle.)

Poptarts!!!!

 

For lunch:

Corn dogs

Chicken nuggets

Pizza

Hamburgers

Macaroni & Cheese

Hot dogs

Country Fried Steak

 

In their defense, there are a few days with things like muffins (would those be the extra-ginormous muffins??), cereal (gotta love chocolate milk over Fruit Loops), fish nuggets, or tacos.  Did someone really need to pay for a study to figure out this was not healthy fare?

 

[Laura Corin]

This is one day at my boys' school.  There's always a salad bar at lunch too.  The breakfast and evening meal are usually just for boarders.

 

Breakfast

Bacon & bagels; Yoghurt Selection; Toast Selection; Birchers Muesli, Porridge; Fruit Juice Selection; Tea, Coffee, Hot Chocolate; Preserves, Chocolate Spread, Cream Cheese; Cornflakes/ Coco Pops/ Muesli Weetabix/Frosties/Krispies; Fresh Fruit-on request

 

Lunch

Vegetarian Soup: Mushroom Soup

Rustic Soup: Lentil & Ham Soup

Main: Pasta Bolognaise    

Vegetarian Main: Penne with Creamy Mushroom Sauce  

Garlic Bread  

Vegetables: Green Beans  

Hot Dessert: Apple Crumble Custard  

Cold Dessert: Yoghurt Pot, Fruit Platter

 

Evening Meal

Vegetarian Soup

Chef's choice

Main: Paella    

Vegetarian Main: Stuffed Beef Tomatoes    

Pasta Main: Vegetable Carbonara Tagliatelli

Potatoes and Vegetables: Saute Potatoes, Sweetcorn

Dessert: Chocolate Crispies   

 

L

 

[ErinE]

Is there a class aspect to this?  I don't know about in the US, but in the UK, people in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to be obese.  It's visible in our two local schools: the private school has very few overweight children and none that I would identify as obese.  The state school has a much wider range.  

 

In the area studied, are middle class people likely to be leaner and are home educated children more likely to be middle class?

 

L

 

I wondered this as well. If the study controlled for socio-economic and household status, it would be an interesting result. Otherwise, it might end up comparing apples and oranges.

[LucyStoner]

I have a hard time thinking any study like this wouldn't control for socioeconomic factors. It would be a worthless study if it did not.

[The Way of My People]

Off the cuff, I also would have assumed the homeschooled kids would be fatter.  Not because of school breakfast/lunch programs, but because homeschooled kids have access to food more consistently throughout the day.  When my son is home, he's always asking for a snack, grabbing some fruit from the bowl, etc.  At school, the only chance he gets to eat is the 15 minutes (literally!) they allow for lunch at mid-day.  I pack him a big, healthy lunch, but he struggles to get enough food down the hatch to keep from being ravenous by the end of the day. 

[LucyStoner]

Not only would it have to control for socioeconomic factors, but it would have to control for race. Statistically, fewer Latinos and blacks hs (at least in the studies I've seen) and statistically, those two groups are heavier.

Race is a socioeconomic factor. Sociological-Economic. I think race falls under sociology.

[LucyStoner]

Off the cuff, I also would have assumed the homeschooled kids would be fatter. Not because of school breakfast/lunch programs, but because homeschooled kids have access to food more consistently throughout the day. When my son is home, he's always asking for a snack, grabbing some fruit from the bowl, etc. At school, the only chance he gets to eat is the 15 minutes (literally!) they allow for lunch at mid-day. I pack him a big, healthy lunch, but he struggles to get enough food down the hatch to keep from being ravenous by the end of the day.

OTOH, for many people eating small amounts throughout the day may be a more efficient and healthy way to go than scarfing down a big pile of calories once in the middle of the day. My sons eat all day but are both very lean. Each time they eat though, it's a small amount. It also avoids the famished post school time when it is easy to hand them extra calories right before dinner time.

[Soror]

Well, my kids eat all the time. My high energy son eats as much as my husband, literally, sometimes more and is in no way a big dude. He does eat more healthily than my dh who indulges in Mt Dew and snack cakes at work. All my kids eat all day. We generally only drink water and eat a diet primarily composed of whole foods. Of the other hs'ers I know I don't know they seem to be a lot like ps'ers, some big some little. It seems a lot talk more about healthy eating but often that doesn't translate into good habits and just talk doesn't do much good.

[Miss Marple]

See, I thought they figured since that homeschooled kids never got out, they would have a much lower level of physical activity than the public schooled kids. 

 

The physical activity level was basically the same!

In our house, the physical activity level was probably much higher.  I routinely sent the boys outside to run laps around the house when they couldn't concentrate - which was every day - sometimes several times a day. LOL.  I've got thin fellas.

[ErinE]

In our house, the physical activity level was probably much higher.  I routinely sent the boys outside to run laps around the house when they couldn't concentrate - which was every day - sometimes several times a day. LOL.  I've got thin fellas.

 

Yes, sending the children out of the house can really improve a school day's progress.

[...................]

Someone may have already said this, but there's always the correlation factor-

 

the type of person to put our entire lives into the proper upbringing and education of our children are the same type of people who will also read about and think about food choices, and be concerned parents in that area (and in teaching safety, and in Internet safety, and in teaching manners, and in proper sleep, etc. etc. etc.)

 

 

[Stars]

I'd be very skeptical of a study that chose to focus only on children living in "ground zero" of the most obese corner of America (Birmingham, Alabama) as the test subjects. This area has a greater than 30% obesity rate. Something is very wrong with the food culture down there.

 

Bill

 

I'm pretty sure Birmingham was chosen for the study because it was being conducted by UAB (the University of Alabama at Birmingham).

[WishboneDawn]

It's not like that at all here in our school system.  Only one meal per student...regardless of $$$ on the account.  As a matter of fact, the children are required to have a fruit on their plate or vegetable.  Not fruit I'd choose...it's junk like canned pears, canned peaches etc...but still...it's not like they are dishing up Twinkies.

 

The study is just foolish.  Americans are obese in general.  Regardless of where you are educated.  I've seen overweight homeschool children.  I've seen overweight public school children.  I've seen children who are within weight, underweight..etc etc etc.   It really does not matter where you are educated..it matters about the child's genetic DNA, family health, family eating patterns.   Perhaps they should have done a study on those things.

 

This IS a study on those things. You can test those things by comparing different populations, examining the results and then looking for variables that might point you in the right direction. Scientific inquiry if generally not as straightforward as we seem to think. :)

[WishboneDawn]

There are studies on those sorts of things and there will continue to be, IMO. The interesting thing about this one is it appears they were able to cancel out such things as genetics and just look at where you get your education. It really looks like they had a bias going in and were knocked on their a$$es when they reached a different conclusion.

 

If you read the article, the lead author is now studying some of what you want them to:

 

No, not a bias, a hypothesis. That's not only proper but it's key otherwise you have nothing to test. A bias would affect not only the questions they ask but how they shaped the study and interpreted the results. 

 

So they tested their hypothesis and got unexpected results. That's as it should be. Now they revise their hypothesis and carry on. 

[WishboneDawn]

I'd be very skeptical of a study that chose to focus only on children living in "ground zero" of the most obese corner of America (Birmingham, Alabama) as the test subjects. This area has a greater than 30% obesity rate. Something is very wrong with the food culture down there.

 

Bill

 

Why should that merit skepticism? They're studying the difference between two populations within that area. It's obesity rate is somewhat beside the point. 

 

No, they can't make wider claims about HS and PS kids but of course they wouldn't. For that they would need many more studies in many different areas. No over-arching conclusion can ever be drawn from one study and I think the folks involved in that one study would be the first to point that out.

[Spy Car]

Why should that merit skepticism? They're studying the difference between two populations within that area. It's obesity rate is somewhat beside the point.

How is the obesity rate of the area besides the point, when what they are studying is "obesity?"

 

No, they can't make wider claims about HS and PS kids but of course they wouldn't. For that they would need many more studies in many different areas. No over-arching conclusion can ever be drawn from one study and I think the folks involved in that one study would be the first to point that out.

-

 

It is the wider claim, the one you say should not be made (but appears to be the way it has been taken), that I'm skeptical about.

 

We are in seeming in agreement that "no over-arching conclusions" should be drawn from one study, especially one as limited as this one.

 

I'm thrilled (but unsurprised) if children who eat parent cooked meals are leaner that those who eat school lunches (of the sort that are served in most places). The quality of most school lunches remains shockingly poor. It is not a very high bar to clear to do better than school lunches (unfortunately).

 

Bill

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

I'm thrilled (but unsurprised) if children who eat parent cooked meals are leaner that those who eat school lunches (of the sort that are served in most places). The quality of most school lunches remains shockingly poor. It is not a very high bar to clear to do better than school lunches (unfortunately).

 

You don't appear thrilled. . .     I think it is good to celebrate even small victories even as we continue to shoot for bigger ones.  And by victories, I don't mean homeschoolers against public schools, because I don't think there should be a conflict between the two, but against the scourge of obesity.  

[Spy Car]

You don't appear thrilled. . .     I think it is good to celebrate even small victories even as we continue to shoot for bigger ones.  And by victories, I don't mean homeschoolers against public schools, because I don't think there should be a conflict between the two, but against the scourge of obesity.

Anytime children are healthier, I'm happy. Childhood obesity is one of those issues that concerns me a great deal (and I've taken plenty of flack on this forum for pointing out that Happy Meals are not healthful, etc.).

 

i just don't think being "leaner" than the fattest people in America (in a small sampling) is something that should be blown-up into some sort of "over-arching conclusion."

 

I've read this forum for a long time. It is not my impression that a generally healthful attitude towards food and nutrition prevails here as the general rule. I'm sure i'll take flack for that too, or that the childish jokes about posting from McDonald's will start flowing (as per usual).

 

Our culture (generally) has a long way too go with the sort of meals we feed children. That goes across our society. We need more "victories" as this is a war we seem to be losing.

 

Doing better than typical school lunches ain't much of an achievement, sad to say.

 

Bill