When education officials were considering banning the sale of sodas, chips and candy in California’s K-12 schools, they called in UC Berkeley researchers to analyze the financial implications. Could schools afford to limit these lucrative items?
The answer was surprising: cutting the sale of junk food actually helped the bottom line because students were more likely to eat healthy, subsidized meals, a change that boosted federal funding to the state and improved nutrition.
In short, it was a win-win. As a result of the work by advocates armed with data from this UC study, California became the first state in the nation to limit the sale of these kinds of unhealthy foods and beverages in K-12 schools.
