According to the research breakfast habits are a concern, with nearly a third (29%) of parents saying their child skips breakfast at least three times during the school week.
The national survey of UK parents reveals how their child is affected when they haven’t had nutritious or filling food at school:
- 44% say their child fills up on crisps, biscuits or sugary drinks after school
- 42% say their child comes home ‘hangry’ (angry or grumpy due to hunger)
- 35% report low energy
- 22% say their child communicates less
- 21% say homework focus suffers
- 12% report less interest in clubs and after-school activities
Six in ten (60%) parents are now giving their children supplements to compensate - the most common being multivitamins and minerals (37%), vitamin D (23%) and vitamin C (21%).
In response to these concerns Creed, which has over 50 years’ experience working within the education sector, launched the UK’s first-ever Brain Food school menu in Autumn 2024. It was developed with registered dietitian Juliette Kellow and Creed’s team of development chefs.
Since its launch, schools across the country have trialled and introduced Brain Food dishes, including Churchdown School Academy in Gloucester - with positive feedback from both pupils and staff. Aimed at secondary schools, the menu includes breakfast, lunch and smoothie bar options.
Each recipe is packed full of ingredients that have a part to play in brain function, as well as offering nutrients for all aspects of wellbeing for teenagers such as providing energy for playing sport and supporting cognitive function for music or drama lessons.
Gabrielle Evans, insights and innovation assistant at Creed Foodservice, said: “We’ve long known the connection between food and physical health, but this research underlines how crucial it is to children’s emotional wellbeing and learning too.
“The majority (64%) of parents worry about their children’s eating habits at school – which isn’t surprising given they are seeing first-hand the impact on homework, extracurricular activities and mood outside of school. It’s not just parents who notice the impact - 94% of people who work in schools agree that pupils who consume nutritious and filling food and drink before and during school learn better.
“We wanted to help caterers understand what parents want to see on school menus, drive uptake of school meals and offer pupils dishes that will help fuel them both physically and mentally through the day.”
To view Creed’s Brain Food menu, visit: https://www.creedfoodservice.co.uk/content/brainfood.