Medical Research Division, Community Medicine Department, National Research Centre, (Affiliation ID: 60014618), Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Taibah University, Madinah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
World J Pediatr. 2020 Aug;16(4):393-400. doi: 10.1007/s12519-020-00342-8. Epub 2020 Feb 13.
School feeding program (SFP) increases access to education and to better health. This study aims to evaluate the effects of SFP on physical growth, cognitive development, psychosocial behavior, and learning achievement of school children.
A quasi-experimental study was conducted. The intervention group included 903 pupils in the fifth grade receiving the school meal, while the control group included 886 pupils, matched for age and sex, without meal. The meal consisted of a pie made of flour fortified with vitamins A, B6, B12, C, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, calcium, iron, zinc, and phosphorus. Socioeconomic position, nutritional status, and dietary behavior were evaluated. Neuropsychological tests were done. Psychosocial behavior was rated and educational achievement was recorded. Post hoc and independent sample t tests were used to detect the association of the studied parameters with the intake of school snack.
Children who took the meal had better scores on visual memory, auditory vigilance tests (9.71 ± 2.80 vs. 7.45 ± 3.25; 25.02 ± 3.36 vs. 10.82 ± 8.92, respectively, P < 0.001), the afternoon attention and working memory test (8.20 ± 2.21vs. 7.75 ± 3.05) (P < 0.001), but less score of externalizing behavior (P < 0.001) than the control group. No significant changes of children's nutritional status were detected between the two groups. School meal was the main predictor of visual memory and auditory vigilance (P < 0.001), and was the strongest predictor of academic achievements when combined with family size and meals' frequency (P < 0.001).
School meal improves academic achievements of school children.
学校供餐计划（SFP）增加了受教育机会和改善了健康状况。本研究旨在评估 SFP 对在校儿童的体格生长、认知发展、社会心理行为和学习成绩的影响。
进行了一项准实验研究。干预组包括 903 名五年级接受学校供餐的学生，而对照组包括 886 名年龄和性别相匹配、不供餐的学生。供餐包括由强化了维生素 A、B6、B12、C、硫胺素、核黄素、烟酸、叶酸、钙、铁、锌和磷的面粉制成的馅饼。评估了社会经济地位、营养状况和饮食行为。进行了神经心理学测试。评定了社会心理行为，并记录了教育成绩。使用事后和独立样本 t 检验来检测研究参数与学校零食摄入之间的关联。
食用餐点的儿童在视觉记忆、听觉警戒测试（9.71 ± 2.80 对 7.45 ± 3.25；25.02 ± 3.36 对 10.82 ± 8.92，分别，P < 0.001）、下午注意力和工作记忆测试（8.20 ± 2.21 对 7.75 ± 3.05）（P < 0.001）方面的得分更好，但在外部行为方面的得分较低（P < 0.001）。两组儿童的营养状况无显著变化。学校餐是视觉记忆和听觉警戒的主要预测因素（P < 0.001），当与家庭规模和餐次频率相结合时，是学业成绩的最强预测因素（P < 0.001）。
学校餐改善了在校儿童的学业成绩。
