Easy access may boost students' water consumption

NEW YORK — Kids in New York City public schools drank water nearly three times more often after dispensers of cool, fresh tap water were conveniently placed near their lunch lines, researchers found.

“The water jets definitely made it easier to get water,” said Brian Elbel, lead author of the study, in an e-mail to Reuters Health. “It was in a convenient place and could be ‘fun’ for younger kids, given that you generally got to fill your cup yourself,” Elbel said.

“The idea is to make the healthy choice the easy choice,” Elbel said. “Of course you can lead a kid to water but you can’t always make her drink.

“But the water jet does very much increase the likelihood that this will happen,” said Elbel, an associate professor of Population Health and Health Policy at the New York University School of Medicine.

Drinking more water is important for kids because it can replace high-calorie sugary drinks, which may lead to obesity and cavities and deplete important nutrients, Elbel and his coauthors write in the American Journal of Public Health.

Teen boys should drink 3.3 liters (about 3.5 quarts) of water per day and girls, 2.3 liters (2.4 quarts), the authors say. But national nutrition surveys suggest neither boys nor girls hit those targets.

The water jets involved in the study are large clear plastic jugs that dispense cool, aerated water, “similar to slushy machines found in convenience stores,” according to the authors.

They were installed in 2010 in most New York City public schools as part of a drive to improve food and beverage nutrition standards for students. Congress in 2010 mandated that all schools make plain drinking water available to students for free during meals in cafeterias.