Thornley S, Sundborn G
Pac Health Dialog. 2014 Mar;20(1):17-21.
In New Zealand, schools have been a battleground as a setting to address the obesity epidemic, with successive governments enforcing, and then repealing laws to ban junk food from canteen menus. Just what is considered 'junk food' remains controversial, but recently sugar sweetened beverages have become a target of public health groups. The adverse health consequences of their intake have been the principal arguments to reduce their availability. Here, we argue that the advantages of reducing intake of sugar in schools are very likely to lead to educational and other social benefits. Indices of sugar intake have been associated with aggressive behaviour, attention deficit, dysphoria and suicidal thoughts in cross-sectional studies. Longitudinal studies have also linked soft drink intake with impaired cognitive development. We believe that banning sugary drinks from schools will assist teachers and students to better achieve their learning goals, with a side effect of improving their health status.
在新西兰，学校一直是应对肥胖流行问题的战场，历届政府先是强制实施，后又废除了禁止食堂菜单上出现垃圾食品的法律。究竟什么被视为“垃圾食品”仍存在争议，但最近含糖饮料已成为公共卫生组织的目标。摄入含糖饮料对健康的不良影响一直是减少其供应的主要论据。在此，我们认为在学校减少糖的摄入量很可能会带来教育和其他社会效益。在横断面研究中，糖摄入量指标与攻击性行为、注意力缺陷、烦躁不安和自杀念头有关。纵向研究也将软饮料摄入与认知发展受损联系起来。我们认为，在学校禁止含糖饮料将有助于教师和学生更好地实现他们的学习目标，同时还能改善他们的健康状况。
