Is There a Link Between Education and Weight?

What if weight gain had nothing to do with what you ate or how much you worked out? What if, instead, it had to do with education?

Childhood obesity has become a national epidemic of alarming proportions. But a solution may be more attainable than it seems. A University of Rochester School of Medicine study found that girls who started school when they were younger were less likely to be obese when they reached adolescence.

Studying around 6,000 girls from across the country, researchers learned that those who began school when they were younger than their peers had a significantly lower chance of being overweight. Similarly, the oldest girls were more overweight.

There was no comparable link between school start time and boys' tendency to be overweight or obese.

"Early admission to a school environment might have a long-term protective effect in terms of adolescent girls' propensity to obesity," the authors wrote.

But it wasn't clear why the age at which girls begin school would have an impact on their weight a decade later. Some reasoned that classmates might have a positive impact. Others believe the exposure to health and physical education classes, which could include getting girls involved in exercise routines, are helpful.

Check out AOL Health for more childhood obesity news.