Swedish Study Shows Sugar-Free Schools Reduce Childhood Obesity

Filed under: Study — @ April 27, 2007

Researcher Claude Marcus looked at impact of sugar-free schools

There’s a new Swedish study released this week that was absolutely encouraging to anyone living a sugar-free lifestyle.

Lead researcher Claude Marcus, professor of Pediatrics at the Stockholm, Sweden-based Karolinska Institute (whose previous research has show the impact of high blood sugar on Alzheimer’s disease and sugar’s unique role in pancreatic cancer), wanted to see if an across-the-board ban on all sweets, junk food, and sodas in ten area schools would make a difference in the number of overweight children at those schools. These high-carb sugary garbage foods were replaced by high-fiber, lower-fat, low-carb foods.

Over a four-year period, the number of overweight or obese 6-10 year old children in the project called STOPP (Stockholm Obesity Prevention Project) dropped markedly from 22 percent down to 16 percent. WOW! That’s a full six percentage points just by simply removing the sugar option from the foods available at school.

So what happened to the control group that changed nothing?

These sugar-eating, high-carb junk food-ingesting children saw the number of overweight or obese children RISE from 18 percent to 21 percent. Not surprising at all to those of us who are livin’ la vida low-carb.

Click here to read more about how removing sugar and other high-carb foods from schools can bring about a turnaround in the childhood obesity rates.