Got Breakfast?

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Got Breakfast?

• Daniel Vo

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Meals of Day
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Why is breakfast important?

• Missing breakfast and experiencing hunger impair
  childrens ability to learn
• Children who skip breakfast are less able to
  distinguish among similar images, show increased
  errors, and have slower memory recall. (Pollitt E
  et al. 1998, Pollitt E et al 1981)
• Children experiencing hunger have lower math
  scores and are more likely to have to repeat a
  grade. (Alaimo K 2001)
• Children experiencing hunger are more likely to
  be hyperactive, absent and tardy, in addition to
  having behavioral and attention problems more
  often than other children. (Murphy JM et al 1998)

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Why is breakfast important?

• Breakfast may reduce obesity risk
• Adolescents who eat breakfast tend to have a
  lower body mass index (Barton BA et al 2005)
• Adolescents with one or two obese parents who
  eat breakfast every day are more likely to have
  BMIs within a healthy range than those who tend
  to skip breakfast. (Fiore, H. Potentially
  Protective Factors)

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Why do poor kids miss breakfast?

• Commutes
• Latch key kids
• Larger families with many children
• Poverty
• Non conventional work schedules

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Nation Nutrition Programs

• 1946 National School Lunch Act (NSLA) signed by
  President Truman
• 1968 Summer Program Established
• School Breakfast Program Established
• 1969 White House conference on hunger
• Nixon the time as come to end
  hunger in America.
• 1995 Republicans wish to decrease SBP
  expansion, Al Gore and
• Jesse Jackson stage lunch-in at the
  Capital
• 1998 Murphy et al. Havard study shows increased
  academic
• performance and decreased absenteeism
• 2000s the most exciting stuff is yet to come

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Statistics
In Fiscal Year 2006, over 9.7 million children
participated every day. Of those, 7.9 million
received their meals free or at a reduced-price.
For Fiscal Year 2006, the School Breakfast
Program cost 2.0 billion
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School Breakfast Program

• Who qualifies?
• Free meals children in families at or below
  130 of the poverty level
• Reduced price meals 130 to 185 of the
  poverty level
• 130 of FPL is 26,845 for a family of
  four 185 is 38,203
•  No doc of household income or benefit receipt
  is required at the time of application
• Nutritional requirements?
• Dietary Guidelines for Americans
• no more than 30 of calories from fat
• less than 10 from saturated fat
• 1/4 of the RDA for protein, calcium,
  iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and calories
• Specific menus are made by local school
  food authorities

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School Breakfast Program

• Reimbursements to schools
• During the 2004-2005 school year, schools were
  reimbursed 1.23 in federal funds for each free
  breakfast
• 0.93 for each reduced price breakfast and
• 0.23 for each paid breakfast.

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Outcomes
Murphy et al. 1998 133 Students before and after
participation in school breakfast
program Students who increased their
participation in the school breakfast program had
significantly greater increases in their math
grades and significantly greater decreases in the
rates of school absence and tardiness than
children whose participation remained the same or
decreased. Child and teacher ratings of
psychosocial problems also decreased to a
significantly greater degree for children with
increased participation in the school breakfast
program.
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Cons to the Breakfast Program

• Are students participating?
• Depends on your state
• Sustainability?
• Millions of meals the department serves each year
  both breakfast and lunch are rivaled in
  number only by the United States armed forces
• Are target groups being served?
• APEC Study by USDA showing increasing numbers of
  children erroneously certified for free or
  reduced-price meals
• Children who apply and are eligible but are
  erroneously denied benefit
• Between 19971998 and 19981999, higher income
  childrenthat is, those not certified for free or
  reduced-price mealsaccounted for two-thirds of
  the growth in SBP participation
• Non documented immigrants

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Whos in charge? (Brookings Institute)
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Other controversies

• Tracing the money
• USDA
• Buy American Provision
• Competitive foods

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Private entrepreneurs
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Current Issues

• Where to eat breakfast in school?
• Other nation food services
• School lunch
• Summerfood programs
• Special Milk
• WIC