The impact of school meals on student health

New research has revealed a link between the provision of free school meals and students’ health.

The study, by researchers at Georgia State University in Atlanta, examined the impact of the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a policy initiative that provides children with free lunches and no paperwork required.

The researchers found that the CEP is leading to increases in school meal participation as well as the percentage of students in the “healthy weight” range, with reduced body mass index scores for students in elementary and middle schools, and for students in urban areas as well as towns.

“CEP participation and subsequent increases in free school meal enrollment increase the percentage of a school’s students who fall within the healthy weight range and reduce school-level average BMI scores for elementary and middle schools as well as schools in urban areas, suburbs, and towns,” the study’s authors said.

However, they pointed out that CEP program needs to be “effective, feasible, and attractive to schools in all location types”.

According to the study, this can reduce health disparities among disadvantaged children and runs counter to previous research which found school meals can lead to weight gain among students.

However, the study’s authors point out that improvement in meal quality might explain the difference.

Since the initiative was first introduced in 2014-15, students’ CEP participation has risen from 14,000 schools in 2,200 districts to 18,800 schools in almost 3,000 districts the following year.

In addition to negating the need for schools to require paperwork from families, CEP can avoid concerns over lunch shaming, because students don’t have to pay and therefore aren’t given an “alternative meal” if they can’t pay their lunch debt.

However, addressing the “lunch shaming” issue for students might raise concerns over “school shaming” for principals, the study suggests.

“If schools choose not to adopt the CEP because they feel that it will negatively affect their public perception, our results indicate that the choice may come at the expense of forgone improvements to the health of their students,” the researchers said.

The cost of participating in the program is likely another factor determining whether schools participate. The provision allows schools with at least 40% of their students eligible for other government assistance programs to participate.