Junk food Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Junk food - Assignment Example The researchers in this research paper set out to find out and verify whether the availability of junk food in schools was the reason that led to the obesity in these children. The research only focused on the children from fifth grade and only during school hours and depended on reports from the children and their parents on issues to do with exercises when at home which were bound to be biased or incomplete in some ways. The sample was of 9,380 children who were all in fifth grade in both public and private schools and who had started school in 1998. Data collected from them was that of BMI at the beginning and the end of the research period and the difference calculated. Data was also collected from parents, teachers and other school sources on things such as the children’s cognitive skills and abilities, their social wellbeing, emotional and physical wellbeing and development and especially on their physical activity both in school and at home which may change the results of the BMI in the long run. The data was collected in 2003 and 2004. Other than collection of data on BMI and physical activity, it was also collected on the amount of junk food consumed and the number of calories the junk food contained (Datar and Nicosia, 2012). The results indicated slight increases in BMI in these children from the calories intake of the junk food consumed in school. The physical activity also was very minimal both in school and at home based on the reports from the teachers, parents and the children themselves.