Browsing by Author "de Seymour J"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Nutrient-Level Evaluation of Meals Provided on the Government-Funded School Lunch Program in New Zealand
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2022-12) de Seymour J; Stollenwerk Cavallaro A; Wharemate-Keung L; Ching S; Jackson J; Maeda-Yamamoto M
    Approximately 1 in 6 children in New Zealand are living in households facing poverty and 14% of the population is food insecure. The Ka Ora, Ka Ako|Healthy School Lunches program aims to reduce food insecurity by providing access to a nutritious lunch every school day. This study analyzed the nutritional content of Ka Ora, Ka Ako meals and compared them to national and international standards. Meals were selected at random from approved menus. The suppliers covered by the 302 meals analyzed provide 161,699 students with a lunch (74.9% of students on the program). The meals were analyzed using Foodworks 10 nutrient analysis software. The nutrient content was compared against the New Zealand/Australia Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs) and to nutrient-level standards for international school lunch programs. A total of 77.5% of nutrients analyzed exceeded 30% of the recommended daily intakes. Protein, vitamin A and folate met the NRV targets and a majority of the international standards (55/57). Energy, calcium, and iron were low compared to NRVs and international standards (meeting 2/76 standards). Carbohydrates were low compared to international standards. The findings have been used to inform the development of revised nutrition standards for the program, which will be released in 2022.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The impact of food poverty on educational achievement: a New Zealand case study in global context
    (Frontiers Media S.A., 2025-01-01) McKelvie Sebileau P; Swinburn B; de Seymour J; Rastmanesh R
    Hunger negatively impacts a student’s ability to engage and learn at school. Rising food poverty among school students across the globe is increasingly recognized as a critical factor impacting educational achievement. International assessments show a consistent and strong link between student hunger and lower academic performance, yet detailed analysis remains limited. The aim of this paper is to quantify the impact of student hunger on educational attainment. We use New Zealand as a case study, a high-income country with surprisingly high levels of food poverty. We carry out a cross sectional study of New Zealand data from three large-scale educational datasets comparing student achievement scores with self-reported food insufficiency at home. We observed a consistent, repeated and large effect size, with students experiencing hunger showing a learning gap of up to 4 years compared to their peers. This effect holds constant even after adjusting for student socio-economic status. Overall, these large dataset results demonstrate how being hungry at school and/or home is a major barrier to learning and that structural changes to reduce poverty, as well as programmatic responses such as free school lunches, must become national education priorities.