in the UK.... and I'm sure many other "first world" countries.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/...er-report-saysThe all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on hunger found there was a “deeply troubling” impact on children who had gone hungry over the holidays and returned to class “malnourished, sluggish and dreary”.
It said the evidence it had received indicated that those children “start the new term several weeks, if not months, intellectually behind their more fortunate peers who have enjoyed a more wholesome diet and lots of activity”.
The report said: “There can be no escape from the reality that in 2017, children in different parts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are arriving back at school hungry and totally unprepared to learn after the holidays.
“We have learnt of one young person who vomited during the holidays because their diet consisted exclusively of packets of crisps. Elsewhere, a group of children taking part in a holiday football tournament had to drop out of the latter stages of the competition, as they had not eaten a meal in the days leading up to the event. Their bodies simply gave up on them.”
The positive impact on poorer children who attended free meal and fun projects during the holidays was stark, the report said. They “eat more healthily, undertake more exercise, demonstrate better behaviour, and return to school in a much improved condition than they otherwise would have done in the absence of those projects”.