Girls worst for missing lunch finds school study

Published on Wednesday 15 February 2012 00:00

ONE in seven children go without lunch on a typical day, research suggests, and the trend is growing.

Teenage girls aged 14 and 15 were among the worst offenders, with a fifth admitting they did not eat lunch.

The findings came from a report by the independent Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU) which questioned more than 83,000 ten to 15-year-olds in 2010 on a variety of topics, including what they ate for lunch and breakfast.

In total, 13.5 per cent of boys and girls aged 12-15 said they did not eat lunch when asked the question, “What did you do for lunch yesterday”.

The SHEU suggested the numbers not eating lunch has more than doubled in the past 25 years.

Asked what they had eaten that morning, almost one in five (19.8 per cent) said they had skipped breakfast.

This ranged from just 12 per cent among boys and girls aged 10-11 to 31 per cent of girls aged 14-15 revealing they had not eaten that morning.

School Food Trust spokesman Claire Rick said skipping lunch has an impact on how pupils performed in lessons.

She said: “Skipping lunch doesn’t just leave pupils feeling hungry and tired – it really does affect their performance in the classroom.

“Our research shows that children are far more able to concentrate and focus with their teachers after a healthy meal at lunchtime, and we hear from schools all the time about the impact of better food for children’s behaviour at school.

“That’s why it’s so important that the school dining room is a place where pupils want to spend their lunchtimes, and that we continue working on all of the factors that will encourage more pupils to opt for a healthy school lunch.”