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Few simple and successful interventions to prevent obesity in children have been described. To determine whether promoting water consumption will prevent children from becoming overweight, investigators conducted a clinical trial in a random sample of 32 schools located in economically depressed areas of two neighboring German cities. Outcomes of 1641 second- and third-grade students at 17 intervention schools were compared with those of 1309 students at 15 control schools.
In the intervention schools, one or two water fountains were installed, children were given water bottles at the beginning of the school year and 4 months later, and teachers delivered four prepared classroom lessons about water needs of the body. At baseline, 24.5% of ch…