Food for kids

Have you ever wondered where the phrase “an apple for the teacher” came from? It actually comes from a time before publicly funded education when poorer parents would essentially barter for their child’s place in a school offering excess produce to keep the teacher fed and hopefully happy. If you didn’t know that historical background the phrase seems exactly the reverse of what should be happening because teachers should be giving kids apples as a healthy diet supports a healthy mind. If that seems a trite little equation to you (healthy diet = healthy mind) then be prepared to reset your perceptual algebra because a new study has shown just how directly bad food can negatively impact a child’s academic results.

The study data from 11,740 children who were kindergarten students in 1998-99. The children completed food questionnaires as they went through the study and the researchers then looked at how they were performing academically in year 8.

The results showed that only 29 per cent of children ate no fast food (this was an American study), ten per cent of children ate fast food every day, and a further ten per cent reported eating it five to six times a week.

By the time the children got to year 8 results also showed that those children who ate fast food five to six times a week scored an average 20 per cent lower on maths, reading, and science compared to children who never ate fast food.

This relationship to fast food existed even after the researchers allowed for factors such as exercise, television viewing, socioeconomic status, and other food consumption. So it seems not to be just the lifestyle of those who eat fast food that is the problem. It rather seems to be the fast food itself.

If what you eat you are is literally true, it seems that the empty kilojoules of fast food are also leading to empty heads.