New research is crediting a ban on the sale of junk food in schools for making a difference in the fight against childhood obesity.

A University of New Brunswick study found, in the six provinces which have a ban on junk food, students weigh less than children in provinces without a ban.

Manitoba doesn’t have a province-wide ban and despite this new research it doesn’t appear that will change anytime soon.

UNB health economist Philip Leonard completed the study by looking at the body mass index of Canadians between the ages of 12 and 26.

Leonard was provided with a sample of more than 153, 000 children from the Canadian Community Health Survey. About 22, 000 had been banned from buying junk food at school.

In the six provinces where there's been a ban on the sale of junk food in schools for five years or more, the study found students weigh an average of about one kilogram less than children in provinces where school junk food bans don't exist.

"What we've really done is make a bit inconvenient to get junk food and so people have less of it,” said Leonard.  "If you put a chocolate bar in my school cafeteria right beside me, I'm much more likely to grab it than I am if you tell me I have to walk 500 meters to the closest convenience store."

The study found school junk food bans have a larger effect on younger students who are less likely to leave the school to buy food.

Leonard said the findings show that school policies can have an effect on what students weigh, but on their own won't be enough to curb rising rates of childhood obesity.

The Manitoba government has no plans to implement a province-wide ban.

A government spokesperson said the focus at this time is on educating students to make responsible and informed nutrition decisions.

While it doesn’t have a ban, Manitoba does have a school and food nutrition handbook which allows each school division to determine its own policy.

Some school divisions have implemented complete bans on the sale of junk food while others, like Seven Oaks, still allow students some choice.

"We've generally taken the stand that we want to educate kids about nutrition so that they can make real choices in the real world,” said Seven Oaks superintendent Brian O’Leary.  "You'd probably still get a slice of pizza or a chocolate chip cookie in our school cafeterias, but hopefully there's lots of affordable healthy options, salads, fresh fruit."

Winnipeg mom Paula Bergman typically packs a combination of vegetables and home-cooked chicken sandwiches in her daughter Kali’s lunch.

"Often it's whole wheat bread so the healthier the better,” said Bergman.

While Bergman supports the idea of a province-wide ban, she’s not opposed to allowing parents and students to have the final say about what kids eat.