Virtual Medical Centre

Nutrition for School Children

• Introduction to nutrition for children in primary school
• Nutritional needs of school-aged children
  • Energy
  • Protein
  • Essential fatty acids
  • Calcium
  • Iron
• What can parents do to help children eat healthily?
• Nutritional advice for school-aged children

Introduction to nutrition for children in primary school

Maintaining a balanced diet and regular exercise is important for all individuals, especially school-aged children (6-12 years). These children are required to eat a variety of foods from each food group to ensure optimal intake of all vitamins and minerals. At the same time, they may face new challenges regarding food choices and habits. Decisions about what to eat are partly determined by what is provided in school, at home, the influences from friends at school, and the media, especially television.

Poor nutrition compromises both the quality of life of school-aged children but also their potential to benefit from education. Attaining optimal nutrition involves eating three meals a day and two nutritious snacks, as well as limiting the intake of high sugar and high fat foods. Consuming generous amounts of fruits, vegetables, lean meats and low fat dairy products, including three servings of milk, cheese or yoghurt to meet their calcium requirement, can also prevent many medical problems. This includes becoming overweight, developing weak bones, and developing diabetes.

Adequate nutrition of school aged children will also ensure they grow to their full potential, and provide the stepping stones to a healthy life.

Essential nutrients for the school-aged child

School-aged children grow significantly, but at slower rate, whilst being very physically active in general. As a result, their nutritional needs are high and critical. Additionally, genetic background, gender, body size and shape are all important determinants of nutrient requirements. A recent review of research on the effects of deficiencies in zinc, iodine, iron and folate on the cognitive development of school-aged children showed that nutrition has an impact on children's ability to think. For example, deficiencies in iron and zinc have been associated with impairment of neuropsychological function, retardation of growth and development, reduced immunity and increased vulnerability to infectious diseases. The essential nutrients for optimal health are:

Carbohydrates and fats provide energy for growth and physical activity. During periods of rapid growth, appetites increase and children tend to eat constantly. When growth slows, appetites diminish and children eat less at meal times. The brain needs energy to function properly and hence the supply of glucose is relevant and critical. Cognitively demanding tasks, such as schoolwork, require regular supplies of glucose to the brain in order to enhance cognitive functioning and improves memory and mood.

Protein

Protein builds, maintains and repairs body tissue. It is especially important for growth. It's important that parents encourage children to eat two to three servings of protein daily. Good sources of protein for children include meat, fish, poultry, milk and other dairy.

Deficiency of unsaturated fatty acids may have a negative impact school performance. In a randomised controlled trial, six months of treatment with fatty acid supplements among 102 dyslexic school aged children significantly improved reading age on standardised tests of single word reading. Dyslexia and Dyspraxia are associated with difficulties with spelling, handwriting and written expression.

Calcium is important in building strong bones and teeth. Bone density suffers when calcium needs are not met during childhood years. Osteoporosis, a weakened bone disease affects a significant proportion of adults. This begins in childhood if diets are not providing adequate calcium-rich foods. Milk and dairy products and from some dark green, leafy vegetables are good sources of calcium.

Children need iron because of rapidly expanding blood volume during growth. Meats, fish, poultry, and enriched breads and cereals are the best sources of dietary iron.

For more information, see the Dairy Australia fact sheet on child nutrition.

What can parents do to help children eat healthily?

Parents are role models for their children, therefore any dietary habits formed by the parent is likely to be reflected in the child. Adult's role-modelling healthy eating patterns can have a positive influence on children's eating patterns when providing healthy meals and snacks at home. Parents should provide a variety of foods and establish regular meal and snack times.

In most cases, nutrient needs will be adequately met if the Food Pyramid is referred to in planning family meals. The Food Pyramid designed by Nutrition Australia is to promote healthy nutrition for all ages. It is meant to be a general guide to daily food choices. The Food Pyramid (see Introduction to Nutrition) that foods containing a lot of fat, oil and sweets should be consumed sparingly.

Research carried out in Australia found that food purchased in school canteens had similar nutritional content to food brought from home; the nutritional value of both sources of lunch meals needed improvement.

Nutritional advice for school-aged children

The best nutrition advice to keep your children healthy includes encouraging them to:

• Eat breakfast every day to help maintain concentration in class. A good breakfast should be able to provide a third of the total daily energy requirement. A typical breakfast includes a cereal (for example, rice, bread, and oats), protein-rich food such as egg, a glass of milk and vitamin C rich fruit e.g. orange, and papaya. One study found that an overnight and morning fast among school children had deleterious effects on memory and attention. Empirical evidence from research on the effects of breakfast on cognition shows that particularly for younger children, skipping breakfast can have adverse effects on both general energy levels and cognition of school children.
• Eat a variety of foods in order to have adequate nutrient intake.
• Balance the food you eat with physical activity.
• Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits.
• Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. Buy low-calorie and low-fat meals, snacks and deserts, low fat or skim milk and diet drinks.
• Choose a diet that provides enough calcium and iron to meet their growing body's requirements.
• Teach children from an early age about nutrition, foods, drinks, healthy eating and drinking. They should be taught what happens to the food they consume.
• Choose a diet moderate in sugars and salt. Avoid giving large amounts of sweet deserts, soft drinks, fruit-flavored drinks, sugar-coated cereals, chips or candy, as they have little nutritional value.

For more information, see the Dairy Australia fact sheet on drinks for children.

Snacking and school-aged children

During the primary school years, a greater proportion of meals may be eaten away from home in the school setting. Most of these snacks consumed are high fat foods. Snacks may contribute up to a significant proportion of total daily energy and nutrient needs of the school child. Resultantly poor snack choices result in too many high-energy, low-nutrient foods. For example, salty snacks, such as packets of crisps, may be poor value as they give few nutrients.

Children who are both physically active and growing need to refuel periodically throughout the day. Parents and other caretakers have the critical role in helping children make nutritious snack choices. Frequent snacking may result in loss of appetite during the main meal. A healthy snack should be less in size or quantity to the amount of a regular meal and taken at least 2 hours before a regular meal.

For more information, see the Dairy Australia fact sheet on dairy servings.