"I start a fire, put a pot of water on it and tell the children I am in the middle of preparing something, Maryam Sy, 37 and a mother of nine, says in a raspy voice. In reality, I have nothing" (qtd. in Larson). Like Maryam’s kids, several other African children go to bed before their mothers are finished stirring the pots. Hunger and malnutrition is a serious problem faced by many African countries. This issue affects children the most. Every year, millions of children die due to the lack of proper nutrition. Besides the physical and psychological damage, malnutrition also affects academics. Malnutrition has several negative effects on a child’s learning and school performance as it can lead to lower attendance, unsatisfactory student behavior, and poor academic performance.
As children do not get proper nutrition, Malnutrition makes students susceptible to illnesses which lead to low school attendance. Being out of school for long periods of time due to illnesses makes students unfamiliar with the concepts being taught upon return. They often do poorly on the tests because of that. Malnutrition affects students’ academic performance as well. Children who consume adequate amounts of food perform better in school than the malnourished children. Food provides many nutrients essential for mental and cognitive development. Not having enough food causes deficiencies of proteins necessary for the development of brain tissue which prevents children from understanding the material
How do you expect a you kid to make throughout the day without any nutrients or energy to help the stay awake, or to give them energy to make it through gym class. Not only does it affect school, but it also causes poor performances in sports and other after school activities. Also if kids do not get the proper nutrients it can put them in a bad mood, and nobody likes a mean, grumpy kid walking around school. Most students do not eat breakfast in the mornings, so not having a proper lunch just makes that even worse.
Studies have shown that hunger affects children's cognitive ability, their ability to fight off infection, and their ability to learn. Iron deficiency, which comes from lack of nutrient-rich food, has been shown to cause a shortened attention span, fatigue, decreased concentration levels, and irritability. All of this affects children's behavior, at school and at home. These negative effects of hunger can and will cause children to fall behind in their classes, whether it may be from sickness or getting in trouble. Hunger doesn't just tamper with children's behavior in short term ways, it also affects children in the long term, with permanent IQ loss, higher odds of having health problems later in life, and many other problems. The aspect of hunger also affects unborn babies. When expecting mothers don't get adequate nutrient intake, it increases the chance of their babies being born with low birth weights. Low birth weight babies are more likely than regular birth weight babies to have visual, auditory, and learning problems. Hunger negatively affects children of all
If someone suffered from malnutrition, it became hard for them to do normal things, like growing and resisting disease. Malnutrition also had other bad effects. For children, malnutrition slowed physical and mental development. Malnutrition also was a large contributor to disease. Even today, malnutrition is still a problem that needs to be solved.
Children in need of these nutrients can suffer from stunted growth never reaching potential height. Statistics have shown stunted growth children score significantly lower on intelligence tests than do normal children. Hunger interferes with physical, emotional and academic development. According to Freedom from Hunger, “more than 4 million children will die due to hunger related causes.” NASW(2016) shows an important connection food security and nutrition play in physical and mental health.
Malnutrition causes nearly half of all deaths in children under five. (Food Aid Foundation.) Millions of children, gone, into thin air. As if they never existed. Millions of stories, millions of futures, all dead, uncared for. More than 795 million people do not have access to enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. (Food Aid Foundation.) Potential scientists, doctors, and musicians will never be able to achieve their goals because they can’t even obtain food. In Haiti, a small central-american country, one out of every three children lose the ability to grow because of malnourishment (Naq, Oishimaya Sen.). The severity of malnourishment in Haiti causes Haitian children to acquire many terminal diseases and blood deficiencies (Naq, Oishimaya
When students lack a balanced meal and proper nutrition they start to struggle with their academics. Remember the reason we go to school is to learn and if our brains are not given the proper fuel needed to work properly to retain information, then the school is not doing it's student's justice. It is a proven fact through research that student's who eat a poor diet score lower on exams and do poorly on their work. The students are not to blame it is the government and school systems fault. How can students perform at their fullest potential when they are not giving the best chance possible?
Hungry children are sick more often and more likely to visit the hospital and these costs result in higher health insurance rates and taxes. Health problems also carry into adulthood, which leads to additional health care costs, absenteeism, and poor performance at work. Hungry children experience lower academic achievement and have social and behavioral problems that carry over into the workforce. As a result, America's workforce is less competitive and less productive. Since the nation's growth depends on the health of America's children, eliminating child hunger should be a priority. Like a vaccine, good nutrition can prevent health problems and increase American productivity with the cooperation of public and private food assistance programs
Poverty has a large impact on students and their ability to engage in school. From a young age, children are influenced by their family and peers behavior. Basic foundations for school subjects such as vocabulary are often the hardest subjects for children in poverty, with the lack of proper background knowledge from their parents. Children in poverty also develop bad habits such as not eating breakfast which can lead to health issues, and a lack of energy and focus in school. When these children grow up in households full of stress and anxiety the are negatively impacted and tend to develop their own stress which can become so severe that they have lost all hope and optimism. Negative influences from their home life and peers can often impact their growth in school because of their lack of nutrition, small range of vocabulary, and their negative approach to school work.
Malnutrition affects children because it causes lifelong mental impairments and stunts physical growth. IQ of children who
Hunger decreases a child's energy which can cause lasting affects in social and emotional development. Malnutrition and anemia can also cause brain impairment, affecting the child's learning development at such a young age. Growing up with these health problems can later cause worse diseases when the child is older or can even affect his or her life forever. Health problems caused by hunger Being hungry can affect a person's health in many ways. For example, 12 percent of children in Fresno have anemia caused by not eating enough and 4 percent children are underweight.
Some people might just not eat lunch, or eat less than they should, and that will cause malnutrition. They won't be ingesting the proper amount of food, which could affect many things, including their learning. It could affect them being focused, or lower their energy. This might even end up with them having lower grades.
A large problem of childhood poverty is malnutrition. Since these children are growing up in poverty, many of the parents have a hard time supplying food for their kids. Surprisingly, there
A bad diet not only causes physical health issues such as obesity and diabetes but can also lead to complex mental and emotional issues such as low self-esteem, anxiety, anorexia and high blood pressure, which prevent a child from excelling in academics and thriving in a school setting. Proving healthy food options is a crucial step for children to stay healthy not only physically but also mentally, this can also inhibit health issues that can cause serious damage in a child's academic, physical and emotional development.
Socioeconomic status influences students in many different ways. When a child is hungry it’s extremely hard to concentrate on the curriculum. Furthermore, students who have not eaten anything usually have behavior issues too.
This report has been created to inform educators and families of the importance nutrition plays in young students lives, in particular how nutrition can affect school outcomes. The report draws on statistics, provides a brief overview of resources available to educators and recommendations in relation to improving students nutritional intake and understanding of the importance nutrition. Research and statistics discussed in this report are retrieved from Government bodies and peer reviewed journals published within 10 years, due to limited information in research of Australian students aged between five and eight the age range may show wider gaps. The recommendations made in the report in relation to improving nutritional outcomes for students