Impact of Food Insecurity On Children and Their Education in the UK

For most people, to go to the grocery store and to buy food is an easy task but all the people are not able to buy healthy food. This situation is known as food insecurity and food insecurity is different for the different people. There are two categories of food insecurity. First is known as low food insecurity and this situation occur when you don’t have the best quality food to eat. The second situation is known as very low food insecurity and this situation occur when you don’t have enough food to eat when you need it. There are lots of impacts on food insecurity. Here, we will discuss the impacts of food insecurity on children and their education in the UK.

Impacts Of Food Insecurity On The Performance Of The Students:

It is a fact that the early years of a child’s life are very crucial regarding mental and physical health. During these early years, if a child is facing the problems of chronic hunger, he has to face the problems of lack of vitamins and minerals. As a result, students will not be able to reach the development milestones. According to a study in the UK, it is estimated that if a child comes from a home who is facing food insecurity issues, his height and weight will be less than the height and weight of the other students of the same age.

Moreover, these students have to face some other learning disability and learning impairment issues. According to the report of Center for Disease Control, the students who are facing food insecurity issues have to face problems of obese due to illness and they will not be able to pay full attention, concentration and focus on his studies. According to a same report of an assignment writing service, if a child is hungry, it will also last some bad impacts on its immune system. It means that his immune system will suffer from issues of lack of vital nutrients. Due to these reasons, students will have to suffer from various kinds of diseases and they will miss lots of days at school.

Impacts Of Food Insecurity On The Brain Of The Students:

Due to food insecurity, students have to face lots of problems in their brains. Due to food insecurity, students don’t have enough idea either they will be able to get food for the next time or not. Some essential impacts of food insecurity on the brain of the students are given below;

• The hunger can last some bad impacts on the social, cognitive and emotional levels of the students.
• Hunger will also hinder the ability of a person to focus on the studies. As a result, students will show lower performance in their academic career.
• Due to the food insecurity, students face the problem of Vitamin A deficiency. Due to vitamin A deficiency, students have to face some eyesight issues. There is also a possibility that students may have to face problems of permanent blindness.
• If a family is facing food insecurity issue, there is a possibility that mother at the time of delivery may have to face iron deficiency. Due to iron deficiency, the newly born baby has to face problems of irreversible brain damage.
• The students who are facing hunger issues will also face problems of lower IQ level.
• Food insecurity also lasts some bad impacts on the functionality of the brain. As a result, it will be difficult for students to take quick decisions.

Impacts Of Food Insecurity On The Learning Abilities Of The Students:

Due to the food insecurity, we will also observe lots of issues on the learning abilities of the students. In the learning abilities of the students, there comes reading, writing and memorizing abilities of the students. As we have discussed earlier that due to hunger, the brains of the students don’t work properly. Due to improper functionality of the brains, students are not able to pay full attention to the reading, writing and memorizing.

Impacts Of Food Insecurity On Well-Being Of The Students:

If a student is facing food insecurity issues at the home, he has to face lots of problems relevant to his well-being. For this reason, students have to face two kinds of problems. First of all, students have to face some problems in the nutritional pathways. These problems are created due to the deficiency of the quality and quantity of the food. Secondly, students have to face problems regarding stress. Due to the lack of food, students have to face lots of depression and anxiety problems.

Food Insecurity Increases Risks Of Chronic Diseases:

According to the report of USDA, there is a solid interaction between hunger and chronic diseases. Therefore, it is also a fact that food insecurity is also becoming a cause of lots of chronic diseases in the UK students. In these chronic diseases, there come high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes. According to this report, 58% of the people who are facing food insecurity issues are also facing problems with high blood pressure. In a similar way, 33% of the people who are facing problems of food insecurity are also facing problems of diabetes.

Moreover, the students who are not getting proper breakfast are not able to pay attention to the classroom activities all day. In a similar way, the students who are not able to get proper lunch and dinner are not able to complete their academic writing tasks before the deadlines. Due to food insecurity, the students also face problems with sleep disorders. These sleep disorder problems will also create some problems with proper attention for the students. Due to these impacts of food insecurity on children and their education, we should try to solve the problems of food insecurity.