Food for Thought

“What and how students eat can have a profound effect on their (student’s) ability to learn. Recent research on the connections between nutrition and neuroscience makes student’s eating habits a serious school issue.”

Source: “Food for Thought,” by B.K. Given, November 1998, Educational Leadership, 56(3), pp.68-71.

How many parents go to McDonalds and say, “Eat your food then you can go play”? There is a commonly held belief that nourishing the body is more important than play. If a child were given the option more than likely they would rather play. Some children come to school malnourished and eating is a priority. Children that are not malnourished can leave the lunchroom under-nourished because eating is not a priority. The under-nourished children typically do not have long-term physical problems but new research shows that even mild under-nutrition can prevent learning. Feeling hungry due to eating to little or missing meals, affects learning. Hungry students tend to have headaches, be irritable, nervous, passive, and unable to concentrate.

A focus of my doctorate degree was on how the brain physically learns. Knowing how learning physically occurs has made a tremendous difference in how I view the lunch period. If parents and educators ignore the reality that lunch can make the difference in learning then students will fail to achieve intended academic results.

Neuroscience researchers Diamond, 1999; Carper, 2000; Howard, 2000, and Whitaker, 1999 suggest that learning starts in the stomach. Nutrients that are consumed are released into the blood stream fueling the brain so that it can function properly. Lunch is the opportunity for the brain to fuel up for afternoon learning. It is especially important for children who are not breakfast eaters or eat breakfast at an early hour. Sprenger, 2002 indicates, educators cannot control what a child consumes; however, they can control the setting in which a child eats. Priorities can be set to convey to children that eating is an important part of getting ready to learn.

Elementary school age children developmentally do not have a keen awareness of time. So when it comes to a balance of eating and talking it has been evident that socializing is the priority and students leave lunch under-nourished. Therefore students are not prepared for optimal learning.