Girls who eat a school meal every day are less likely to have stunted children, study shows (The Telegraph)

The Telegraph (United Kingdom) published an article on the findings from the IFPRI study, Intergenerational nutrition benefits of India’s national school feeding program. Indian women who eat a daily school meal are less likely to go on to have children who are stunted than those who do not, a modeling study has shown. Research Fellow Samuel Scott, one of the authors of the paper, said the study focused on primary school children but researchers hope to look at the effect on girls aged up to 14, the age at which free school meals stop. “We would argue that the program should be extended from 14 to 18 or when you’re finished school. There’s rapid growth at that age and girls have higher nutritional requirements. Around 40 percent of girls in India get married before the age of 18 so it’s good to offer them incentives to stay in school.”