Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences

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The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum

Received: 24 September 2014    Accepted: 16 November 2014    Published: 26 March 2015
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Abstract

Background: Malnutrition among children in developing countries continues to impair health and development. School feeding is supposed to eliminate hunger of school age children improving their health, education and future productivity as adults. Objective: to assess the effect of breakfast and school feeding program (SFP) on the academic performance of primary school children in Fayoum governorate. Methods: The intervention group consisted of 576 pupils in the 5th grade chosen randomly from schools have taken school meal for five years. The control group was 233 age and sex-matched pupils chosen randomly from schools have never taken school meal. The snack consists of a pie fortified with minerals and vitamins. Assessment of nutritional status, socio-demographic variables and dietary behaviour was performed. Grades of pupils were taken. Results: Children, who have got school meal for five years, 81.8% and 88.7% of them passed in school and math respectively, for girls the effect was higher. Other nutritional factors have less positive effect. Social factors have less effect on both school achievement and math. Multiple regression analysis presents school meal as the main predictor of school achievement and math grades, while sex and family income are the only socioeconomic variables predictors of school achievement and math grades. Conclusion: School snack has the opportunity to alleviate short-term hunger during the school day. Providing students with important micronutrients especially iron, regularly through daily intake of school snacks, results in improvement in school grades. School meal should be one of multiple interventions designed to improve the environment in which poor children live and learn.

DOI 10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17
Published in Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences (Volume 3, Issue 2, March 2015)
Page(s) 71-83
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

School Meal, Breakfast, Micronutrients, Math Grades, School Achievements

References
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Author Information
  • Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

  • Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

  • Food Technology Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt

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  • APA Style

    Hanan A. Hussien, Nabih A. Ibrahim, Amal Hassanin. (2015). The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum. Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 3(2), 71-83. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17

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    ACS Style

    Hanan A. Hussien; Nabih A. Ibrahim; Amal Hassanin. The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum. J. Food Nutr. Sci. 2015, 3(2), 71-83. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17

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    AMA Style

    Hanan A. Hussien, Nabih A. Ibrahim, Amal Hassanin. The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum. J Food Nutr Sci. 2015;3(2):71-83. doi: 10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17,
      author = {Hanan A. Hussien and Nabih A. Ibrahim and Amal Hassanin},
      title = {The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum},
      journal = {Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences},
      volume = {3},
      number = {2},
      pages = {71-83},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jfns.20150302.17},
      abstract = {Background: Malnutrition among children in developing countries continues to impair health and development. School feeding is supposed to eliminate hunger of school age children improving their health, education and future productivity as adults. Objective: to assess the effect of breakfast and school feeding program (SFP) on the academic performance of primary school children in Fayoum governorate. Methods: The intervention group consisted of 576 pupils in the 5th grade chosen randomly from schools have taken school meal for five years. The control group was 233 age and sex-matched pupils chosen randomly from schools have never taken school meal. The snack consists of a pie fortified with minerals and vitamins. Assessment of nutritional status, socio-demographic variables and dietary behaviour was performed. Grades of pupils were taken. Results: Children, who have got school meal for five years, 81.8% and 88.7% of them passed in school and math respectively, for girls the effect was higher. Other nutritional factors have less positive effect. Social factors have less effect on both school achievement and math. Multiple regression analysis presents school meal as the main predictor of school achievement and math grades, while sex and family income are the only socioeconomic variables predictors of school achievement and math grades. Conclusion: School snack has the opportunity to alleviate short-term hunger during the school day. Providing students with important micronutrients especially iron, regularly through daily intake of school snacks, results in improvement in school grades. School meal should be one of multiple interventions designed to improve the environment in which poor children live and learn.},
     year = {2015}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - The Relation Between Nutritional Habits and Social Factors on School Performance of Students of Elementary Schools in Fayoum
    AU  - Hanan A. Hussien
    AU  - Nabih A. Ibrahim
    AU  - Amal Hassanin
    Y1  - 2015/03/26
    PY  - 2015
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17
    DO  - 10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17
    T2  - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences
    JF  - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences
    JO  - Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences
    SP  - 71
    EP  - 83
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-7293
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jfns.20150302.17
    AB  - Background: Malnutrition among children in developing countries continues to impair health and development. School feeding is supposed to eliminate hunger of school age children improving their health, education and future productivity as adults. Objective: to assess the effect of breakfast and school feeding program (SFP) on the academic performance of primary school children in Fayoum governorate. Methods: The intervention group consisted of 576 pupils in the 5th grade chosen randomly from schools have taken school meal for five years. The control group was 233 age and sex-matched pupils chosen randomly from schools have never taken school meal. The snack consists of a pie fortified with minerals and vitamins. Assessment of nutritional status, socio-demographic variables and dietary behaviour was performed. Grades of pupils were taken. Results: Children, who have got school meal for five years, 81.8% and 88.7% of them passed in school and math respectively, for girls the effect was higher. Other nutritional factors have less positive effect. Social factors have less effect on both school achievement and math. Multiple regression analysis presents school meal as the main predictor of school achievement and math grades, while sex and family income are the only socioeconomic variables predictors of school achievement and math grades. Conclusion: School snack has the opportunity to alleviate short-term hunger during the school day. Providing students with important micronutrients especially iron, regularly through daily intake of school snacks, results in improvement in school grades. School meal should be one of multiple interventions designed to improve the environment in which poor children live and learn.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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