Weight gain occurs when school is out.

• Position: Childhood Obesity - Brief article

Increases in overweight and obesity rates among young children occur during summer vacations, not during the school year, according to research from the University of Texas, Austin. Paul von Hippel, associate professor of public affairs, examined body mass index and obesity prevalence in a nationally representative sample of children. Between the start of kindergarten and the end of second grade, all of the increases in overweight and obesity prevalence occurred during the two summer vacations, not during the three school years.

"I wish I could say that changes schools have made over the last decade are helping to reduce obesity, but they're not," notes von Hippel. "Schools have never been a big part of the obesity problem. What we're seeing in...