Importance of childhood nutrition

‘Nutrition’ has been a never-ending topic of discussion among mothers, paediatricians, and dieticians, and of lately, has seeped into the conversations of the health-conscious generation too. It may appear overrated or it may sound cliched, but the fact is nutrition indeed is a vital aspect of a healthy life and deserves conscious and considerable attention; especially during the growth years of children.

Importance of nutrition during formative years

Childhood is the most eventful of all developmental stages - be it physical, cognitive, social, emotional, or language and communication – children are the most active learners during this phase. However, children must be provided with adequate nourishment for them to achieve various developmental milestones age-appropriately. A balanced nutritious diet comprising of the right amount of essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, vitamins and minerals become vital for proper growth and development of children. Heeding to this NGOs like The Akshaya Patra Foundation have taken up food and nutrition as their core cause. Akshaya Patra is an NGO that implements the Mid-Day Meal Scheme and has been providing nutritious meals to children of government schools and government-aided schools since 2000.

Benefits of good nutrition

There are several advantages of good nutrition for children. Here is a handful of them:

• Proper nutrition supports age-appropriate growth and development in children;
• It improves the immunity level in children thereby keeping infections and diseases at bay;
• It enhances cognitive functioning, level of activeness, social connections and interest to learn and explore different activities;
• Better-nourished children are more active at school and perform well in their academics and other school activities.
• Under-nourishment leads to low immunity, a decrease in activity levels, social interactions, urge to learn, and cognitive functioning, and poor academic performance. It also has an adverse effect on the child’s physical and emotional development.

Role of mid-day meal in nourishing children

The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is a government initiative to provide healthy and nutritious meals to children of government schools and government-aided schools. The children of these schools hail from not-so-privileged socio-economic backgrounds and for them, the mid-day meal becomes the only source of nutrition, and many times it is the only proper meal they get for the entire day. The Mid-Day Meal Scheme is aimed to counter classroom hunger, address malnutrition, increase school enrolment, increase school attendance, and improve socialisation among children belonging to different castes. Favourably, several studies report a positive impact of the mid-day meal on all the mentioned aspects. So, that the mid-day meal and its nutritious value benefit more children, Akshaya Patra is strategically and sustainably expanded its reach across the country.

Gift a nourished childhood

A well-nourished child grows up to be a healthy and confident adult, something that is important not only at a personal level but also at a societal level. Imagine there are 100 children in your neighbourhood and 80 of them are under-nourished. Do you think they will be interested in anything else apart from getting some food? Do you think they will grow up to be resourceful? Unfortunately, not. Hence, it is the responsibility of the ‘haves’ to take care of the ‘have-nots’ so that the latter is empowered enough to become self-dependent and resourceful. By supporting Akshaya Patra you can ensure healthy and wholesome food for millions of children. Choose to offer a donation for children because every child deserves the right to nutritious food and the right to attend school.

Know the Importance of Food and Nutrition

Have it ever come into your mind why we give so much importance to food and nutrition?

The answer is simple: food gives the energy to work plus grow. Also without food nobody can survive. Nutrition is equally important as food. Our body requires micronutrients like vitamins, minerals in small quantities and macronutrients like carbohydrates, protein and fat in large quantities. These nutrients help the body in different ways and a deficiency of any of them can affect proper functioning of the body and can even lead to death.

That is why doctors always recommend a healthy, balanced diet for both adults and children.

When we talk about the importance of nutrition and balanced diet, another question pops up-what is a healthy food? Any food item which can help stay healthy including fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, dairy products, nuts, seafood, meat and egg is considered as healthy.  On the other hand, a balanced diet involves consuming only the right amount of food required for a healthy body weight and taking different types of foods in the right proportion. A balanced diet, thus will be high in fruits and vegetables; starch (potatoes, rice, bread, pasta); protein (meat, fish, lentils), dairy products (milk) and will be low in salt, sugar and fat.

Balanced diet has been known to protect against many chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease and diabetes in adults. Similarly, food and nutrition has a critical role in a child’s life. A balanced diet helps brain development, improves concentration, boosts self-confidence, keeps bones strong, fights obesity, improves immunity and keeps diseases away.

However, unfortunately, everyone in the world does not have the opportunity to eat healthy. About 870 million people around the globe fight hunger every day and are at higher risk of malnutrition, stunting, wasting and death.

Deficiencies of vitamin A, iron and zinc have found their places among the top ten leading causes of death in developing countries.  It is concerning to know that nearly two billion people are affected with micronutrient deficiency, mainly deficiency of vitamins and minerals.

Iron deficiency is known to cause brain damage in children and pose heart risk in adults. Similarly, a deficiency in vitamin A in children can lead to blindness and increase the risk of dying from measles, malaria or diarrhoea. An iodine deficiency during pregnancy can lead to poor mental health in babies, stillbirth, abortion, and mental retardation in adults.  Also a zinc deficiency in children can affect proper growth, immunity and cause death.

All these years, some international organisations like UN, WFP, UNICEF have been trying to end this problem.  In India, we, The Akshaya Patra Foundation, have been fighting hunger and malnutrition since 2000 by delivering nutritious mid-day meals to government school children. Our mid-day meals contain all the nutrients required for children’s healthy growth.

Over 1.4 million children have benefitted out of our Mid-Day Meal Programme. However, millions of children still require our help. So create awareness about the importance of nutrition with us and help us provide food and nutrition to more children across India.


To know about the Significance of Good Nutrition for Education, visit: Nutrition for Education