Well-documented research shows that there is a clear link between good nutrition, improved school performance and better overall health.  Well-nourished and active children and youth are more likely to be better prepared to learn and maintain their health, as they move into adulthood.  Poor eating habits and lack of physical activity are contributing to the rising rates of childhood and adolescent obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Brant Food For Thought contributes to child’s ability to learn by facilitating and supporting student nutrition programs in elementary and secondary schools in Brantford and in the County of Brant.  Good nutrition greatly enhances a child’s ability to learn.  Students who are well-nourished perform better at school, while undernourished children have lower self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, and are absent from school more often.

A child’s brain function is diminished by short-term or periodic hunger or malnutrition caused by missing or skipping meals (Tufts University Center on Hunger, Poverty & Nutrition Policy, 1994).  Schools are an ideal setting for the promotion of healthy eating.  According to the World Health Organization (1998), the school years are an influential time in a child’s development, a time when life-long eating patterns are formed.