What Are The Benefits Of Healthy School Food?

A family's socioeconomic status can significantly affect the way its children eat. At school, however, every child has an opportunity to eat well -- if the school provides a variety of healthy choices. Healthy school meals and snacks can significantly boost a child's nutrition if he is not eating a well-rounded diet at home. Schools can benefit, too, since well nourished students may not only be healthier -- they may be better learners.

Exposure To Healthy Foods

Because the National School Lunch Program is required to serve a variety of foods from all food groups, it is likely a child will, at one time or another, encounter foods on his lunch tray that he has never seen. Some of this food will land in the trash can, but not all of it will. The American Dietetic Association points out that children are more likely to learn to accept foods to which they are repeatedly exposed. Continued exposure at school to new foods, along with peer pressure to eat the same foods as friends, can expand a child's taste preferences over time. In the long run, repeated exposure to different fruits and vegetables at school can help children be more well-rounded eaters.

Student Health

The Food and Nutrition Information Center of USDA cites poor nutrition as a contributing factor in school absenteeism, as malnutrition can cause illness and weaken the body's immunity to infection. It stands to reason that access to healthy cafeteria food could reduce absenteeism and increase learning. This not only benefits students, but also also schools, since school funding is often tied to attendance rates.

Academics

Nutrition deficiencies can impair learning, so eating healthier food -- whether at school or at home -- could translate into classroom performance. Anemia caused by iron deficiency can lower attention span and concentration, and has been shown to decrease vocabulary and reading scores. Another study showed that children were slower and less accurate on cognitive testing after skipping breakfast.

Obesity

Habits learned at school are likely to be repeated at home. Healthy school lunches can set the stage for a lifetime of balanced, nutritious eating. If a child learns to fill up on a well-balanced school lunch including fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, he is less likely to buy junk food from a school vending machine. These habits and eating patterns are then more likely to be repeated at home and into adulthood.