The Impact of Malnutrition on Children

Far too many children face a festive period of food insecurity. This will put them at an instant disadvantage when they return to the classroom, and leave physical and mental scars well into adulthood.

Christmas often means two weeks of celebration and over-indulgence. The festive period may look different this year, but for too many children ,when the school gates close for the holidays, they face two weeks of isolation, boredom, and hunger. As their classmates anticipate what Santa may bring, a shocking number of children will worry where their next meal will come from.

900,000 pupils have applied for free school meals since March, bringing the total up to 2.2 million, according to the Food Foundation. Many children from low income households have no access to healthy meals at home, and demand for food banks has increased 121% since March. As the furlough scheme ends, these figures are likely to rise. So many families face a Covid Christmas with all the bitter trimmings.

Holiday inactivity

A well-nourished child is more likely to pursue creative interests and be physically active during the holidays. These are both just as crucial to development as classroom learning. Humans have a limited cognitive bandwidth, and according to the American Psychological Association, a hungry child will spend their mental resources thinking about food. Low levels of stimulation and activity during the holidays puts them at an immediate disadvantage when they return to school, next to their better-off peers. Nutrition plays a crucial role in physical and emotional development. Food poverty can limit children’s life chances long into their adult life.

Mental health crisis

The Coronavirus crisis has affected young people in ways that they will not quickly bounce back from. Children in low-income households are more likely to have missed out on social and educational experiences in 2020. They are less likely to have had access to green space during lockdown. A new study shows that mental health is worse since going back to school, as children struggle to adjust after months of isolation and lack of learning.

The damage to mental health will be long-lasting, and food insecurity makes it worse. Emma Thompson, Food Foundation Ambassador, writes: “hunger brings the kind of anxiety and stress that can trigger mental health issues. It creates an unshakeable sense of hopelessness.” Long term depression and anxiety are thought to result from toxic stress caused by hunger and emotional trauma.

Poor brain function

Hyperactivity, poor memory and behavioral difficulties are also more common in children from food-insecure households. Often foods high in refined sugars are more readily available during the holidays. When they return to school their performance suffers.

Evidence suggests that chronic iron deficiency in childhood can cause irreversible damage to brain function and structure.  Regina Keith, Senior Lecturer in Food, Nutrition and Public Health, University of Westminster says: “Children require essential nutrients from food, such as zinc, iron, selenium, protein, and iodine, to support their brain growth. The supply of these nutrients affects the functioning adult the child will become.”

Prone to chronic illness

There is evidence that even short periods of food insecurity can have a negative effect on physical health. A study estimates that a child who goes hungry once in their life is 2½ times more likely to have poor overall health 10 to 15 years later, compared with a child that never goes hungry. Toxic stress, the strong, unrelieved activation of the body’s stress management system, makes the child prone to heart disease, COPD, cancers, asthma and autoimmune disease later in life. The British Lung Foundation estimates that the NHS spends £1.9 billion each year on COPD, and £3 billion on asthma.

Cost to the NHS

Extending free school meals during the Christmas holiday and the February half-term would cost the country around £85 million. It’s a fraction of what has already been spent on the Eat Out To Help Out scheme, for example. A food-insecure generation is destined for a life of ill health. This comes at a substantially greater cost in the long-run.

 

Lucinda Herbert

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