MID-MORNING LUNCH IN RURAL SCHOOLS 5 



however, such lunches have not been found to be always effective even with 

 underweight groups, and in some cases the advisabiHty of the feeding has seemed 

 highly questionable. Instances have also not been infrequent where parents 

 reported the child's appetite to be less at noon following the introduction of the 

 lunch at school, with resulting feeding problems. 



Such clinical findings pointed to need of further study of the advantages and 

 disadvantages of school feeding, to ascertain what its possible effects might be 

 not only on the growth of the children but on their general physical and nutritional 

 condition, their school attendance, fatigue, and progress, and the condition of 

 their teeth; whether the beneficial effects were more apparent in children who 

 were in poor condition; and whether some children might fail to improve at all 

 or even show detrimental effects of the lunch. Previous studies made by Davies 

 (4) had indicated that in many homes throughout rural Massachusetts the diets 

 contained limited amounts of milk as well as of fresh fruits and vegetables, at 

 least during the winter months. Under such conditions would a supplementary 

 school feeding of milk or of fresh fruit with a high vitamin C and B content be 

 more efficacious? 



It was with such questions in mind that this study was initiated and carried 

 on over a period of four years, involving a fairly large group of children. The 

 findings do not answer all the questions raised but do throw light on some prob- 

 lems as will be indicated in the discussion which follows. 



PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATION 



' Physical Set-Up 



This investigation, as has already been suggested, was an attempt to determine 

 to what extent the nutritional status of elementary school children can be im- 

 proved by supplementary school feeding. Would the results of such feeding 

 be measurable? If positive, would they be sufficient to warrant a community 

 instituting a mid-morning lunch as a part of the regular school routine? Given 

 the usual home diet of rural Massachusetts, is milk or tomato a better food for 

 this purpose? Tomato juice was used because in New England it is less expensive 

 than oranges and at the same time it is a rich source of vitamins, especially of 

 vitamin C. 



The project was thus presented to the school committee with the request 

 that the school and community cooperate by allowing the children to be the sub- 

 jects of the study. The splendid cooperation which was given by these com- 

 munities is indicated by the fact that with more than 400 families involved, in 

 only nine did the parents raise any objection to their child's part in the project, 

 and in no case was there complete lack of cooperation, even in the control school 

 which was receiving no feeding. 



In carrying on the study as well as in presenting the project to the community 

 every effort was made to create a situation such that no conscious changes would 

 be made in the home diets of the children as a result of the school feeding. It is 

 entireK' probable that in some cases less milk or tomato may have been used at 

 home because the children were recei\'ing these at school, as may be anticipated 

 in any community when a school feeding is given. There are no data to indicate 

 in which homes this may have occurred. A study of the home diets at the 

 beginning and end of the school year might conceivably have revealed changes 

 that were pertinent to the study. It would have been very difficult, however, 



