Relation of the Use of Milk to the Physical and Scholastic Progress of Undernourished School Children

Abstract

A progress report on a study of 2,522 undernourished school children in 1930-31 and 1931-32 in the Philadelphia public schools indicates that children who received milk at home and at school gained 45% more in weight than children who received no milk. All milk users receiving varying amounts of milk both at home and at school showed gains 29% greater than the no milk group. Good food was more important when pupils received insufficient milk, based on the Sherman standard of one quart of milk daily; also, sufficient milk was more essential when children had food otherwise poor. Children having an adequate rest period at home made significantly greater gains than children who did not have sufficient rest. Information, rather meager, on the parallel in scholastic progress based on the combined judgment of teachers, suggested that pupils receiving adequate amounts of milk made somewhat greater scholastic progress.