Here is an excerpt taken from J. Eric Oliver’s Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic.

…there is no clear evidence that schools are contributing to the growth in obesity. The obesity-related complaints about school lunches, vending machines, and physical education are based largely on the assumption that these factors are causing our kids to get fat. Yet, I find little evidence to support this claim. For example, in looking at survey data on the health behavior of middle and high school students, the factor I found that best predicted whether or not a kid was obese was tooth brushing . More important than how much junk food they ate, soda they drank, or physical education they received was whether or not they brushed their teeth. Among fourteen- to seventeen-year-olds, only 16 percent of kids who brushed their teeth more than once a day were overweight compared to 24 percent who brushed less than once a day. Of course, other factors were important as well — teenagers who play more computer games, eat more fast-food, and drink less whole milk were also more likely to be obese — but these factors were tiny in comparison with tooth brushing. Meanwhile school policies, such as whether the kid was in physical education or ate school lunches, had no predictive power for whether or not a child was obese.

Now obviously the act of brushing one’s teeth plays little direct role in a child’s weight, but it is a good indicator of something else — in what type of household the child lives. Children who brush their teeth more often are more likely to come from homes where health and hygiene are a priority…In other words, outside of genetics, the biggest factor predicting a child’s weight is what type of parenting they receive .

I don’t know about you, but I know that after I brush my teeth, I am less likely to put food in my mouth! It’s that fresh, minty taste on my teeth and tongue that makes the thought of adding food not very appealing. What a great way to fight off cravings and if it can help with the child obesity epidemic that we are facing..what a plus!

If you are looking for a great NEW toothbrush, Oral-B has just come out with a new toothbrush-the CrossAction Pro-Health. I have recently purchased this toothbrush and really love it! There are two rows of soft gum stimulators, positioned on either side of the brush head that massage the gums. At first it was weird, but after I realized what it was for, I really like how my mouth felt after using it. I also like that it has a built-in tongue cleaner on the reverse side of the brush head–great way to insure you won’t have bad breath!

沒有證據顯示學校是導致肥胖增長的罪魁禍首。我們將大部分導致孩子變胖的假定原因推到學?；锸?、自動售貨機和體育鍛煉上，因而出現了和肥胖有關的諸多抱怨。然而，我覺得這樣的說法毫無根據。譬如說，在觀察了一份有關中學生和大學生健康行為的調查后，我發現一個孩子是否肥胖的最佳預知方法是看刷牙。比他們吃了多少垃圾食品，喝了多少蘇打飲料，進行了多少體育鍛煉更為重要的是他們是否刷牙。14到17歲間每天刷牙超過一次的孩子中，僅有16%得了肥胖癥，而刷牙次數每天少于一次的孩子，肥胖率為24%。當然，其他因素也很重要——玩電腦次數過多，吃過多的快餐食品，喝牛奶太少的孩子也很可能得肥胖癥。但是這些因素和刷牙比起來，微不足道。同時，學校政策，比如孩子是否接受體育鍛煉，是否在學校吃午餐不能成為他是否會得肥胖癥的預兆。

目前明顯的是，刷牙行為對于孩子的體重起到的直接作用很小，但是它能很好地揭示些其他東西——孩子生活的家庭是怎樣的。更勤于刷牙的孩子更可能來自于將健康和衛生保健放在優先位置的家庭……也就是說，除了遺傳的因素外，預示孩子重量的最大因素是他們所接受的家庭教育。

我對你沒有了解，但至少我知道，我在刷完牙后就不想要再吃東西！牙齒和口腔里清新薄荷的味道讓我不會有再吃東西的欲望。這是抵制食欲的好方法，如果它能幫助遏制我們面臨的兒童肥胖癥的蔓延……那真是錦上添花！

如果你在尋找一種新型的牙刷，歐樂B剛推出了一款新牙刷——多動向健康牙刷。我最近剛買了這款牙刷，十分喜歡！它有兩排刺激牙床的軟刷，在刷頭的兩旁為你的牙床做按摩。剛開始用，會感覺有點奇怪，但當我明白他們的作用后，我很喜歡用了它之后口腔的感覺。我也很喜歡他刷頭反面的內置口腔清潔器——它能很好的保證你不會有口氣！