Bierstone and Freeman: National school feeding program is a big boost for children’s health

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A historic milestone for the health of Canadian children was achieved in the federal budget last week with the government’s announcement of $1 billion over five years to create a national school feeding program.

As pediatricians working in school-based health clinics in some of Toronto’s most underserved communities, we witness firsthand the negative impact of hunger and poor nutrition on the health and school experience of our young patients. A national school feeding program will help close the hunger gap and improve access to nutritious foods for children across the country.

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At our school-based clinics, we treat children with a variety of school-related problems, including ADHD, autism, anxiety, and learning challenges, as well as children with nutritional deficiencies and obesity. For many patients, school success depends more on having a safe place to live and nutritious food on the table.

We know from numerous studies that school feeding programs have the potential to improve children’s health and success in school. They can reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease by allowing children to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains. School feeding programs have been linked to better mental health and a decrease in emotional and behavioral problems at school, including bullying, aggression, and anxiety. Children who eat in the morning experience less hunger, as well as fewer headaches, stomachaches, and bouts of dizziness, all of which impact students’ functioning in school.

According to a Toronto District School Board study, students who participated in a school breakfast program had a 10 per cent increase in independent academic skills, class participation and conflict resolution skills, and were more on track to graduate.

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A staggering one in four children in Canada are food insecure, up from one in five in 2021. That’s almost two million children across our country who cannot access the food they need to thrive. Only about a third of Canadian children eat the recommended five or more servings of fruits or vegetables a day, and a third of elementary school students do not eat a nutritious breakfast before going to school. As pediatricians, we often breathe a metaphorical sigh of relief when we learn that a patient has a snack or meal program at their school, knowing that this will increase their access to nutritious foods and their chances of school success.

A national school feeding program also makes economic sense. As Canadian families face rising costs of living and greater financial pressures, it is estimated that a breakfast and lunch program would save participating families up to $800 a year on grocery bills. School meals will ensure that children can learn on a full stomach, improving their academic success, their economic status as adults, and their contributions to society.

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Right now, school feeding programs across Canada exist in a patchwork where some schools have access to snack or meal programs, while others have no access at all. In the Ottawa area, about a third of schools participate in the school breakfast program, which relies on a combination of public funding and private fundraising. Additional schools join the program each year with a 28 percent increase in daily participation since before the pandemic. While funding for Ottawa’s school breakfast program is relatively secure, this has not been the case in other Ontario jurisdictions (including Toronto, where we work), where feeding programs in certain schools have had to be cancelled, sometimes at mid-year, due to lack of funds.

It is precisely this gap that the creation of a universal national school feeding program announced in the budget would address, and we hope that it will have the support of legislators of all political stripes both now and in the future. But for now, we can get back to work knowing that school nutrition just took another big step toward becoming a reality for every child in Canada.

Dr. Daniel Bierstone and Dr. Sloane J. Freeman They are pediatricians from Toronto. Both work as part of the REACH School Network, an innovative model that provides health care to at-risk children through school-based health clinics.

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