Unpacked: How Better Nutrition Impacts a Child’s School performance and career future

Numerous studies on children’s diet and academic performance have taken place over the decades.

Yet parents are still baffled by the correlation of the two and how they influence a child’s future. As a parent, you are most content when the children are fed, with little cognisance to the kind of food given to the children.

What may continue to leave you restless is your child’s unsatisfactory performance at school.

Parents lie awake at night thinking “she wants to be an engineer, but her results in mathematics are letting her down”.

The truth is you might partly be responsible for this issue, if the food you feed your children is not adding to their academic performance.

The question is, how does the food they eat directly affect their school performance?

Ms Sandisa Maqubela, the facilitator of Engenius workshops, travels around schools in South Africa, educating pupils about engineering.

Engenius is a programme established by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) to attract a sufficient number of pupils in South African schools to consider a career in engineering.

During her workshops, Ms Maqubela interacts with many pupils and found that some of the pupils, although keen to learn, are sluggish and distracted.

Engenius’ activities usually comprise building engineering structures such as cars and also designing safe engineering equipment for the mines.

They require children to be focused and to think creatively.

“When pupils battle in these activities, it’s possible that they did not eat properly balanced meals or they have skipped their meals completely,” said Ms Maqubela.

This has an adverse effect on their performance.

“It is important that the children have something to eat before they tackle these challenges and any other academic activities, for that matter,” said Ms Maqubela.

According to Ms Christine Phillips, a qualified and a registered chef who also owns the Little Cooks Club, breakfast is vital for children daily.

“Having rested for eight hours, children need a fresh supply of glucose as it is the brain’s most basic form of fuel,” said Ms Phillips.

She added that breakfast foods rich in whole grains, fibre, and protein while low in added sugar, can boost children's attention span and memory, which they need, in order to concentrate at school.

“A proper breakfast will contain fibre, calcium and other micro-nutrients which will help keep their weight in check, lower their blood cholesterol and result in fewer cases of absenteeism in school,” said Ms Phillips.

As a word of advice, she suggested that parents cut back on this nutrition dilemma to ensure the child copes during the day in the class by stocking the kitchen with healthy breakfast options.

Prepare as much as you can the night before, let the children plan their own breakfast, and most importantly, have a grab-and-go alternative of fruits, individual boxes of cereal, brown bread and peanut butter in the days when there is little or no time to eat.

The Department of Health in South Africa has done extensive research in this field.

Mr Duncan Mosetlhe, dietician at the Mangunzi District Hospital confirmed children who eat breakfast perform better academically than those who don’t.

“Without food intake in the morning, our adult brains simply don’t operate properly, and the same thing applies to children. Without breakfast, they will battle with understanding new information, their vision may be affected, and they will struggle with remembering,” he said.

Mr Mosetlhe emphasised although good nutrition is important for a child at school, the best time to ensure that the child is fully prepared for all academic stimulation is while they are inside the womb and during their early childhood stage.

“This is where the child develops more rapidly than at any other time of their lifespan, and this foundation phase will determine the rest of their academic performance.”

Therefore following a healthy diet as a pregnant mother is not just about you, it is also about your child.

“Proper nutrition is essential from the start or the child will experience behavioural and cognitive problems, including most importantly, the ability to be educated,” he said.

Mr Mosetlhe believes that micro-nutrients deficiencies which affect children’s cognitive development must be taken note of. “You need to be the gatekeeper of what your children eat. Iron, iodine, vitamin A and zinc should be key ingredients of their food every day,” said Mr Mosetlhe.