An investigation into breakfast clubs and their potential to improve diets of primary school children

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The diets of school children have been a major cause for concern for a considerable time. There is a whole host of evidence to suggest that inadequate dieting beginning in childhood is a major underlying cause of ill health in later life. The link between diet and disease is now well established, as is the need to improve the health of the nation. A number of issues have been raised in recent years including the need for nutritional standards for school meals, however, not enough has been done to eradicate these problems in schools.This research looks into one particular provision – breakfast clubs for primary school children. Research suggests that a large proportion of school children are missing out on this vital meal and the opportunity to gain a substantial proportion of the essential daily nutrients required for adequate growth and development. Breakfast clubs are intended to provide children with the opportunity to receive a nutritious breakfast at the beginning of the day.The objective of the work was to investigate breakfast clubs and establish how they could help to overcome some of the problems associated with poor nutrition in school children. An investigation was carried out using two samples of school children, one already attending a breakfast Club and one not. Comparisons were made between the two groups to see which was providing children with the most nutritious start to the day via a series of food diaries. It was concluded that the breakfast clubs provide children with higher intakes of all the nutrients surveyed and made a significant contribution towards improving the diets of the primary school children.