Schools with programs that encourage kids to eat well and exercise tend to have a much healthier and fitter student body, new research hints.

Canadian researchers found that fifth-graders attending schools with these programs were less likely to be overweight or obese, ate healthier, and were more active than other fifth-graders.

Although the programs cost extra money, it’s worth the “investment,” study author Dr. Paul J. Veugelers of the University of Alberta in Edmonton told AMN Health.

“If you grow healthy kids, they’ll be healthy for life,” he said.

Furthermore, obesity places a “huge cost burden” on society, he argued, which may be even more expensive in the long run.

In the American Journal of Public Health, Veugelers and his co-author, Angela L. Fitzgerald at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, point out that in the United States, the rate of obesity among children has increased nearly four-fold in the past 40 years.

In response, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created guidelines for schools about how to keep their students healthy.

Veugelers, who conducted the research at Dalhousie University, explained that the guidelines recommend that students have at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day, cafeterias serve only healthy foods, and schools rid their vending machines of candy, soda and other junk food.

And, most importantly, according to the guidelines, teachers must include in their curriculum information about nutrition, to explain why it’s important to make these healthy changes.

“You educate about nutrition, and you take the vending machine away,” he said.

For their study, Veugelers and Fitzgerald surveyed 5,200 fifth-graders, their parents and school principles. The students attended 282 public schools in Nova Scotia. Seventy-three schools offered healthier school meals, while 7 schools incorporated all of the CDC recommendations for school-based programs.

Veugelers and Fitzgerald found that students at the 7 schools using the CDC program showed lower rates of obesity and overweight. They also ate healthier, and were more physically active than students at schools with no nutrition programs.

In contrast, students at schools with only healthier foods did not have significantly lower rates of obesity or overweight, and had similar diets and activity levels at schools with no programs.

In an interview, Veugelers noted that some people have raised concerns that including physical activity and nutrition education into school curriculum takes too much time away from other subjects such as history and math. However, others argue that “healthy kids learn better,” he said, adding that further studies are needed to resolve the debate.

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, March 2005.