Back-to-School Success: Doctors Stress Nutrition and Hydration for Children

ZANESVILLE, OH – Back-to-school season: Doctors urge parents to rethink snacks.

As students head back to school, medical professionals are reminding families that it’s important to stay mindful of the snacks and foods children consume throughout the day.

At many schools, children are encouraged to pack a couple of snacks to help them stay focused in class. But doctors say parents should think twice about what goes into a child’s snack bag—especially when it comes to food allergies.

“If you do have a child who does have a food allergy, we really encourage you to have really good conversations around making sure that they’re educated on what their food allergies are, making sure that they restrict things like sharing items or sharing foods with other children just because you don’t always know what ingredients are in those foods and sometimes the person giving out the food may not know as well,” Akua Amponsah Chrappah, a general pediatrician at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said.

Nutrition doesn’t just help students in the classroom; it can also make a difference for student-athletes. Chrappah noted that “Nutrition is extremely important for so many things in school. Particularly school athletes as you brought about, but even just for school performance and school attention but for our athletes we really want to think, for fall sports we think about cooler weather and trees blossoming but really fall sports start in July.”

She added, “We want our athletes’ number 1 to stay hydrated… that’s the biggest thing so drinking plenty of water, making sure they’re getting their electrolytes. We want them to be able to pack snacks as well because they are going to be expending a lot of energy, so we want high protein, nutrient dense foods.”

By making smart snack choices and staying hydrated, students can fuel their bodies and their brains helping them stay focused, active, and ready to succeed.