MANITOWOC PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT
Manitowoc, Wisconsin
February 1, 2003
Members of the Manitowoc Board of Education
RE: The Connection between Nutrition and Student Behavior and Performance
The official minutes of the October 8, 2002, meeting of the Manitowoc Board of Education state that: “President Diedrich recommended that 'The Status of Student Nutrition as it Relates to Cognition, Learning, and Behavior' which had been placed on the agenda at the request of a Board member be addressed in the At-Risk Committee chaired by Steve Gibson. That committee will be charged with reporting back to the Board of Education no later than June, 2003, as part of the 'At-Risk' study report.”
In response to that charge, a number of citizens connected me expressing an interest in serving on the At-Risk Committee. Rather than complicate the work of this committee, the full committee formed a sub-committee designed specifically to address the nutrition/behavior - performance connection. People from the community were welcome to join us in our work. (I have attached a roster of the entire committee.)
Therefore, at the next meeting of the At-Risk Committee, I asked each member to bring me evidence of the connection between nutrition and student behavior and performance in the form of articles, studies, and research reports. As you can see from the attached materials, many people complied with that request.
This annotated bibliography cites numerous research studies, each of which attempts to ascertain the connection, if any, between nutrition and student behavior and performance and the degree of that connection if it indeed exists. Every effort has been made to report only those studies or reviews of studies that were based on scientific method and not upon opinions, feeling, “common sense,” etc. Frankly, we were suspicious of an article that did not make note of the fact that so many variables exist that it is difficult to be absolutely assured of the positive connection between nutrition and behavior and performance. We were, in fact, most impressed by those studies that consciously made an effort to control those variables. Understandably, we were most pleased when a promising article turned out to be a review of recent research, thus saving us a ton of time and effort.
Having stated that, however, three sentences will suffice as a summary of the research:
A positive correlation does exist between proper nutrition and student behavior and performance. Even moderate undernutrition can have lasting effects on children's cognitive development and school performance. Children with even moderate undernutrition are more likely to show behavioral problems (hyperactivity, aggression, etc.), emotional problems (anxiety, for example), and academic problems (absenteeism, tardiness, etc.)
Differences do exist in the research findings as to the degree and the specific nature of that connection and the impact of other variables such as income, level of education of the mother, the time and content of the nutrition, and numerous other physical and psychological factors. Interestingly, the only real trouble that the committee had was finding research studies that focused on lunch programs rather than breakfast programs or efforts to improve lunch programs.
(Although the issue of what constitutes “proper” nutrition is outside the range of this report, we think it is important to note that much of the research shows that just to eat is not enough. A bag of chips, two cup cakes, and some soda will not positively affect student behavior and performance. Neither will a meal consisting of a commercially packaged lunch filled with fats, sodium, and empty calories. In fact, the big movement in terms of the national hot lunch program is to get school districts to approve policies that call for the elimination of soda and snack machines.)
(Additionally, two other benefits of nutritional programs are that students who participate are taught the essentials of proper nutrition through the example of the program. These lessons often bear fruits in the lives of children even away from school and outside of nutrition programs. Likewise, students who participate in nutrition programs at school in which an effort is made to create a comfortable, relaxed, and civil atmosphere also demonstrate benefits in behavior and performance as well.)
Finally, anecdotally, we could also cite the work done in Appleton in connection with Natural Ovens (a video tape is available) and the experiences of several of our staff members who have worked in districts with and without hot lunch and/or breakfast programs. However, we think that the more formal research studies would be of more interest to the Board of Education.
Submitted,
MPSD At-Risk Committee
Steve Gibson, facilitator