Does College make you fat?

I remember being slim once. It was before I went to University. So slender was I, that I even had the proverbial "six-pack". Ah well. So, am I alone in my observation? Am I the only one to leave University heavier than when I arrived?

No. Not by a long way, if a 2005 study by researchers at Washington University, St. Louis is anything to go by. The work was published in the Journal of American College Health.

Principal investigator, Susan S. Deusinger, obtained height and weight data for 764 incoming freshmen at Washington University. At the end of the year, students being students (and therefore implicitly unreliable) only 290 returned for reassessment, despite being offered financial incentives.

However this was enough to decide whether the folklore of the "Freshman 15" (the number of pounds you would gain, along with your courseload in your first year), had any substance. It did. But not quite 15 pounds. Seventy per cent of freshmen students gained an average of nine pounds in their first year.

Researchers were unable to pinpoint a cause. They noted that there were no noticeable changes in dietary habits, or exercise levels from the start of the year, to the end (awful at both ends, by all accounts). Whatever the cause of the gain, it does show that going to College, does make you fat.

Parents of College going children, have, thus, one more thing to worry about: the health of their offspring. It might be wise to educate them a little in wise food choices - and other lifestyle measures, before they leave your sight.

Note, however, that this study only examined the American college student population - it did not address the issue of whether this was a global phenomenon (though it probably is).

(If you would like to read of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and one month, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, College, University, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

School food and allergy management

Like many children, Fintan, four, has his allergies - foods to which he responds negatively, in varying degrees. Prime among these allergenic foods are, unfortunately, cow's milk, soy and wheat. These are common foods found in a surprising range of products.

We told his school about the situation before he started there. As is the way of institutions promises were made, and assurances given - but were they kept? Has his school behaved responsibly on the issue of Fintan's allergies?

Well, any reasonable institution that respected the wishes of the parents and guarded the health of its charges would, of course, have done everything to ensure that Fintan was not exposed to the allergens that he has been shown to respond to. That, however, has not been our experience.

As regular readers will know, he came home from school one day, speaking of the "bread with sugar on it" and french fries that he had been given to eat. Now apart from being absolute junk food, the first of the two items is made of one of his prime allergens: wheat. This is not very reassuring.

Last week, he spoke of having eaten: "Hot dogs and cheese." Here we go again: dairy and wheat - plus a dollop of junk food.

I duly rang his school to complain about the food. What transpired was very interesting for what it said about the values of the Principal. She denied everything. She said that no such food had ever been served him. She said they were aware of his allergies.

I listened to this nonsense until she had quite finished and I then pointed out that the first occasion had been confirmed in person by one of her teachers.

She responded with a watchful silence.

I also pointed out that Fintan knows what particular foods are - and he doesn't lie. If he said that he had been given certain foods to eat, then sure enough he had.

She conceded this point with a grunt, finally admitting, in this reluctant way, the truth of what I had been told.

I then asked if he could be given fruit instead of nonsense.

She said: "We do have fruit."

Interesting, then, that Fintan has never mentioned it - and all he has ever mentioned is utter junk.

"Could we send him in with a packed lunch, then?" I asked, finally, seeking the only solution that would reassure me that all was well with his food intake.

"We don't have that policy.", she refused, firmly.

I see. It is not considered good policy to allow one's charges to be fed real food - and food free of allergens to which they respond.

Imagine. Just imagine, that this school was in charge of a child with a peanut allergy, (and, therefore subject to anaphylactic shock and risk of death). How would they explain to the parents that, through ignoring the wishes of the parents, on the issue of food, that their child had been killed by the food fed them, so carelessly?

Luckily for us, Fintan's reactions are generally restricted to rashes - but still, the principle applies: the parent's wishes regarding food for their child should NEVER be ignored. A parent would not trouble themselves to inform a school of something unless it were so.

I feel that this school doesn't take our request seriously. Well, they should. Persistent exposure to the allergen often worsens the response to it. The child gets sicker and sicker at each exposure. Basically, the school, in ignoring our wishes, is endangering Fintan's health.

In a more litigious society, like the US, I suppose that a school like Fintan's would soon be put out of business through being sued. That is not the way, here, however - partly because litigation is just so expensive.

The Principal, having been caught out in her untruth, has promised that Fintan's food will be watched carefully in future. I have no great confidence that this will be so, given their past performance.

In such a situation, there is only one option remaining: if the school continues to behave irresponsibly, move him elsewhere.

I confess we have thought about it, in response to their behaviour. The only issue that holds us back is that Fintan is settled there and has built up some friendships. It would be sad for him to move on, therefore.

We shall watch and wait.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, four years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and eight months, or Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, genetics, left-handedness, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Is school food junk food?

When I was at school - which seems both long ago, and not long ago at all - the food was generally filling, stodgy, and rewarding to childish appetites - that is, not healthy at all, in general. Some things don't change. School food today, is, in many places, just as worrisome - perhaps more so.

Yesterday, Fintan went on a school trip. He enjoys these for they give him a chance to see the wider world in operation. His school seems particularly fond of these external activities and not a month passes by without its quota of such visits to places of all kinds.

After he had come home, he enthused about what he had eaten. "I had bread with sugar on it...and french fries." he told us.

I couldn't quite believe what he had said, but I didn't need to ask him to repeat it - for he did so anyway. I think he knew these were things we would not feed him - and so, in this context, they were a kind of treat.

We raised the matter with his school since I, for one, was concerned that this might constitute his daily diet, at that school.

"Today? Oh, when they go on a trip - the teacher makes sure they have a snack."

There are many snacks in the world - but I am not sure that "bread with sugar on it" qualifies as reasonable food for a child - or an adult or even animal for that matter. Some things just should not be eaten - and something so evidently lacking in nutritional wisdom is one of them.

There is a readily available snack, that is lightweight, portable, nutritious - and, in this part of the world, at least, inexpensive. It is called a piece of fruit. Why don't schools think - really think - of the health of their charges and organize a little trip to the supermarket, before any such school trip, so that teachers don't end up buying the kids plastic, empty, life-threatening junk foods?

It mystifies me, that after so many decades and so many generations of protest about school foods - that they should still consist of the most unhealthy choices available, in many places.

I have never eaten "bread with sugar on it" in my life - and I don't see why my four year old child should be fed it while under the care of his school. That sentiment applies to the French fries, too.

The last thing a parent wants is for the school to instil in the child, a taste for junk food. Such a hankering can become a lifelong desire - with disastrous consequences for the child (who will thus become an unhealthy, short-lived adult).

Schools should understand that they have greater responsibilities than just the education of their students: they need to attend to their health and happiness, too.

(If you would like to read more of Fintan, four years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, seven years and eight months, and Tiarnan, eighteen months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, the creatively gifted, gifted children and gifted adults in general. Thanks.)