The breakfast club: BNF to study effect of morning social meals on children's school performance

17 May 2023 --- The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has joined forces with the charity Magic Breakfast to drive research in child nutrition and investigate whether breakfast clubs – providing children with a meal in a social setting before school – can improve learning outcomes and physical and mental health. 

NutritionInsight sits down with Bridget Benelam, a nutrition scientist at BNF, and speaks further about the partnership and the research it will conduct.

“The partnership has two sorts of outputs that we will work on at the foundation. One is the review of the evidence, so looking at the published literature on breakfast clubs and the impact that they can have on children’s well-being. The other is a round-table discussion, which will bring together stakeholders from different areas interested in this area.”

“It will bring those people together to discuss some of the issues and some of the evidence, some of the outputs, and then that will be written up as a paper,” she adds.

Going to school hungry may hinder children’s learning and have serious long-term health consequences.Social eating and nutrients
Benelam details that the partnership will look specifically at breakfast clubs, which are already popular in the UK, specifically for the last five years, becoming more widespread.

“Because so many people have two working parents and are juggling lots of different things and also because of the social aspect and the challenges that we face in the UK right now in terms of people just not having enough food,” she remarks.

“But it’s a reality, and the fact that children can have a healthy breakfast before school is just one thing we can do to try and address that issue.”

Lindsey MacDonald, chief executive of Magic Breakfast, says that going to school hungry hinders children’s learning and has serious long-term consequences on their health and development. 

“We believe that no child or young person should go hungry and that a healthy and nutritious breakfast is a proven way to fuel learning and every child’s potential. This has never been more vital as the number of children struggling in the UK has more than doubled in the past year,” adds MacDonald.

“Many schools in the UK will have a breakfast club before school. It’s beneficial for parents because it helps with the work-life balance in terms of being able to drop your children off early at school,” says Benelam.

In practice, it means that children get dropped off earlier – before school starts – and have breakfast together.

No specific food items will be analyzed, but she says that the clubs are trying to provide healthy options.

“So it’ll be things like lower sugar cereals, toast, bread, fruit and such. The idea is that it’s good for just making sure children eat well, but also the kind of social aspect and getting to eat with their friends and the learning to eat as a group and the sort of the more social aspects of eating as well,” details Benelam.

The social aspect of eating is also something that the two organizations will analyze deeper, both in the research review and the round table. 

Need for food for allChildren are going to school hungry, and teachers are reporting behavioral problems.
In the UK and many other countries, people struggle to provide children with the nutritious food they need, Benelam stresses.

“We see, unfortunately, children coming to school hungry and not having eaten and teachers will report that it causes real behavioral problems.”

The partnership believes that breakfast clubs can support children with that so that they eat well before school and get the energy and nutrients they need to concentrate, grow and develop. 

“There are many potential positive aspects of these breakfast clubs and ensuring that children have a healthy meal in the morning. That’s what this partnership is really all about, looking at the evidence and the science behind that, to make a stronger case for that and to ensure that children are eating well,” she underscores.

“As a nutrition charity, we are acutely aware of the impact a healthy diet can have on children’s health and well-being, and the challenges that many families currently face in being able to provide the food their children need,” says Elaine Hindal, chief executive of the BNF.

Arla, Heinz and Quaker fund the charity Magic Breakfast. Benelam says the research is independent as the food companies provide financial funding but have no other role.

By Beatrice Wihlander