Novo Nordisk Foundation

School meals and school-based actions for people and the planet: Nourishing bodies, minds, and futures

Undernutrition has immediate and lasting effects on children’s health. It can limit physical growth and cognitive development (meaning their ability to learn, develop new skills, and problem-solve). Over a lifetime, it can lead to poor health, limited education, decreased work capacity, and diminished economic productivity. Girls face the worst of these struggles. If they experience undernutrition in their early years, they can end up in a perpetual cycle of poor nutrition, poverty, and inequality—challenges passed onto their own children. Studies have shown that women who were undernourished in childhood are at greater risk of delivering low-birthweight babies.