February 18, 2021

Are poor eating habits among children linked to poor socio-emotional and cognitive behaviour among children? What are the consequences on physical and mental wellbeing, for children who have poor nutritional health?

A Straits Times article ‘Kids’ dietary habits and behaviour linked, study shows’ discusses findings from the Singapore Longitudinal Early Development Study led by Professor Jean Yeung (NUS Sociology and Centre for Family and Population Research). Part of the project  examined 5,000 children under seven focusing on factors affecting their development, including their eating habits.

The first set of data indicated that children from a lower socioeconomic background consumed less nutritious and more unhealthy food compared to their wealthier peers. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were also found to have consumed more sugar-sweetened beverages, along with more processed food and fast food.

Prof Yeung said that beverages with high sugar and fat contents were detrimental to child development, and would also hurt young children from low-income families the most. She added that this was “part of the achievement gap story in Singapore” and that data from this study would shed light on this relationship.

A separate paper by Prof Yeung in collaboration with Dr Xuejiao Chen (a post-doctoral researcher) also looked at the causal relationship between food insecurity and behavioural problems, and found that food insecurity had a statistically significant effect on children’s behavioural problems.

In response to the study, Minister of State for Education and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling highlighted the KidStart programme, led by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), which directly engaged families, providing them with knowledge to nurture their children’s development, which included nutritional information.  Community and corporate partners would also be involved in assisting families requiring financial assistance to fulfil their children’s nutritional needs.

Underscoring the importance of addressing food insecurity in children, Prof Yeung remarked that the consequences of not addressing the issue could have longterm effects on children’s learning in schools. Hence, she added that effective measures targeting children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds should involve their families when designing interventions to tackle the problem at its root.

Read the article here.