s'Cool Food Initiative

Along with various other factors, this study shows that breakfast directly and indirectly affects a student's ability to learn. In addition to educational and health benefits for youth, increased School Breakfast Program participation can increase federal funding of state budgets.

This paper provides evidence on the effects of diet on educational outcomes. Evidence is shown that educational outcomes improve significantly in English and Science when the school meal program is improved. A 15% fall in authorized absences was also found to be linked with the improvement of school meals, and absences are most likely linked to illness and health.

Mercury is a potent brain toxin that we know accumulates in fish and seafood. When babies are exposed to elevated mercury in the womb, their brains may develop abnormally, impairing learning abilities and reducing IQ. For these youngest children, the science increasingly suggests there may be no “safe” level of exposure to mercury. And yet for decades an increasingly common ingredient in processed foods, HFCS, has been made using mercury-grade caustic soda.

The results of this study suggest that multicomponent school-based intervention can be effective in preventing the development of over-weight among children in grades 4 through 6 in urban public schools with a high proportion of children eligible for free and reduced-priced school meals.

Designed for Disease: The Link Between Local Food Environments and Obesity and Diabetes examines the relationships between retail food environments, obesity and diabetes, and community income. The study demonstrates that people who live near an abundance of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores compared to grocery stores and fresh produce vendors, have a significantly higher prevalence of obesity and diabetes.

This study suggest that having higher body mass index during childhood is associated with an increased risk of CHD in adulthood. The associations are stronger in boys than in girls and increase with the age of the child in both sexes. Findings suggest that as children are becoming heavier worldwide, greater numbers of them are at risk of having CHD in adulthood.

How will obesity affect the physical and psychological well-being of children in coming decades? What effects will
childhood obesity have on life expectancy, the national economy, and our society? To explore these questions, one might view the obesity epidemic as consisting of the four overlapping phases outlined in this piece.

America’s public health is suffering because of the way we grow food, the chemicals we apply to crops, the drugs we administer to farm animals, our excessive reliance on processing, and too much added fat and sugar in  too many
foods. In the years ahead, progress in reducing the frequency and severity of many diseases will depend increasingly on improving food nutritional quality and patterns of dietary choice.