So if I’m fat I get more sex and can skip school? Load up the fried twinkies! This can not be true can it?
Obese elementary schoolchildren miss a couple more school days on average than their normal-weight classmates, according to a study that says being fat is a better predictor for absenteeism than any other factor.
Researchers said their results suggest that childhood obesity, in addition to serious medical issues, can lead to a plethora of additional problems down the road.
“It’s clear in all the literature that the more days of school you miss, it really sets you up for such negative outcomes: drugs and AIDS and (teen) pregnancy,” said Andrew B. Geier, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and lead author of the study released Friday.
Of 180 school days, researchers found that on average the normal weight students missed 10.1 days, overweight kids missed 10.9 days and obese children missed 12.2 days. For reasons that aren’t clear, underweight children had the fewest absences — 7.5 on average.