Report Shows the Benefits of a School Breakfast Program

January 29, 2009 - In these tough economic times, the face of hunger is a familiar one – it has struck not only the poor, but people of other socioeconomic levels as well.  Of the 35 million Americans currently affected by hunger, 10 million are children.  What are the effects of hunger on children, the educational system, and the nation?  What would an increase in school breakfast programs do to curb such a problem?

To answer those questions, the Sodexo Foundation commissioned an analysis of the scientific literature on the impact of under-nutrition on children and the benefits rendered to children who eat breakfast.  The report, published by the Harvard School of Public Health, gives policymakers and the public a basis by which to understand the importance of the federally funded School Breakfast Program (SBP). 

The findings in the report follow twenty years of related research on the relationship between inadequate nutrition and several negative developmental outcomes in children.  For instance, children who experience hunger are sick more often and get hospitalized more frequently.  They also miss more days of school and are far less likely to be able to learn when they are in class. 

According to the report, there are no “safe” levels of poor nutrition.  Even a missed breakfast or an inadequate lunch can hinder a child’s ability to function and learn well.  The report states that when children go to school hungry, their bodies conserve the limited food energy that is available and that energy is first reserved for critical organ functions, then it is allocated for growth, and lastly for social activity and learning.  As a result, hungry children become more apathetic and have weakened cognitive capacity. 

The Current State of the SBP

The report shows that, while nearly 100,000 individual schools across the country offer a school lunch, more than 15,000 of them do not make breakfast available to children.  Across all states, more than 10 million low-income students who are eligible for school breakfast do not receive this benefit, often because school officials choose not to offer the program.  To address the problem, about 30 states have enacted legislation that requires school districts to offer the SBP to all students, or to do so under certain circumstances.   Another issue is that many students eligible for free or low-cost meals choose not to participate because they do not want to be stigmatized as being poor.  To address that problem, about six states now enable local school districts to offer breakfast to all children free of charge.  Participation rates usually go up significantly in such districts. 

The Benefits of the SBP

Key findings in the report suggest that: 

• Serving breakfast to schoolchildren who don’t get it elsewhere significantly improves their cognitive or mental abilities, enabling them to be more alert, pay better attention, and do better in terms of reading, math and other standardized test scores;
• Children who eat breakfast get sick less often, have fewer problems associated with hunger such as dizziness, lethargy and stomachaches, and do significantly better than their non-breakfasted peers in terms of cooperation, discipline and inter-personal behaviors; and
• When schools do not provide the SBP, the loss of return on educational investment becomes a hidden tax paid by the local district and community.  Some states, for instance, lose tens of millions of dollars a year in federal funding by not fully utilizing the SBP.  And a second hidden tax paid when schools do not provide children the SBP comes in the form of poorer educational outcomes.

According to the report, it costs Americans an estimated $90 billion annually when some of its people go hungry -- money that comes in the form of illness, lethargy, lost productivity, and poorer educational outcomes on the part of children.  Of this amount, nearly $10 billion represents the costs of poorer education-related outcomes such as greater absenteeism and more grade retention indirectly related to hunger.

Given these findings, the conclusion of this report is that the nation’s investments in public education can be jeopardized by childhood under-nutrition.  Participation in the SBP is economically desirable to the nation and a win for children and a win for the nation. 

To access the full report, please click here.  

Source: "Impact of School Breakfast on Children's Health and Learning," An Analysis of the Scientific Research, November 17, 2008, Harvard School of Public Health, Commissioned by the Sodexo Foundation.