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Food for Thought:
School Nutrition for Student Performance
Healthy child development is essential to community and economic prosperity. Research confirms what educators and parents have always known: childhood hunger has long-term and detrimental effects on cognition, physical and mental health, academic performance, and behavior.1,2 Although child poverty in the state has begun to recover from recession lows, household food insecurity has continued to rise, to 1 in 7 Nebraska households.3 Schools are the foundation of our investments in children, and for decades, have provided a healthy nutrition environment to all children through school meal program. Since 1946, the National School Lunch Program has offered federal reimbursements for lunches served to children in public and non-profit private schools and residential child care institutions. In order to receive reimbursements for meals, states must meet nutritional requirements and offer free or reduced-price meals to eligible children.4 The Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees and administers the program through state education agencies, and programs are operated by school food authorities. Today, federal child nutrition programs also include the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program.
Child Hunger is Detrimental to Student Performance Healthy development during the critical period of childhood depends upon consistent access to proper nutrition. The stress of hunger in childhood has been linked to a variety of adverse outcomes ranging from physiological to behavioral. Studies have consistently shown that children living in food-insecure households are more likely to have poor physical, behavioral, and mental health outcomes.5 Food insecurity has also been shown to predict diminished academic performance, cognition, and psychosocial functioning.6,7 Although consistent access to food is related to poverty, research illustrates that the two stressors operate separately, where children who are from households that are both low-income and foodinsecure demonstrate poor outcomes at significantly higher rates than low-income children who did not experience hunger.8 1. Katie Adolphus, Clare L. Lawton, and Louise Dye, “The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7 (2013): 425, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00425. 2. Linda Weinreb, et al., “Hunger: Its Impact on Children’s Health and Mental Health,” Pediatrics 110, no. 4 (2002), doi: 10.1542/peds.110.4.e41. 3. Voices for Children in Nebraska, Kids Count in Nebraska 2015 Report. 4. Children in households with incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL) are eligible for free meals and those in households with incomes between 130% and 185% of FPL are eligible for reduced-price meals, which may cost no more than $0.40 for lunch and $0.30 for breakfast. Categorical eligibility, known as “direct certification” for free meals applies to children who are in households participating in other public programs. 5. Council on Community Pediatrics and Committee on Nutrition, “Promoting Food Insecurity for All Children,” Pediatrics 136, no. 5 (2015), doi: 10.1542/peds.2015-3301. 6. Howard Taras, “Nutrition and Student Performance at School,” J Sch Health 75, no. 6 (2005):199-213. 7. Weinreb, et al., 7. 8. Ronald E. Kleinman, et al., “Hunger in Children in the United States: Potential Behavioral and Emotional Correlates,” Pediatrics 101, no. 1 (1998), 4-5.