School lunches might break poverty cycle

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Teens who live in households where food is scarce suffer academically, but a new study has found that government programs to provide meals in schools can reverse this effect. According to the researchers, the findings suggest that school programs aimed at reducing so-called food insecurity can break an insidious cycle of poverty: poor children go hungry, get bad grades, don't go on to college and fail to rise out of their socioeconomic status — raising children whose lives follow the same unfortunate narrative.