The study, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found children who received subsidized meals in child-care settings were 30 percent less likely to have household food insecurity, 39 percent less likely to have poor or fair health, and 41 percent less likely to be admitted to the hospital from the emergency room than their peers who ate meals provided by their parents while in care.

Researchers interviewed primary caregivers of 3,084 young children receiving ER or primary care in Baltimore, Boston, Little Rock, Minneapolis and Philadelphia between 2010 and 2020. All of the children were between 13 and 48 months old and lived in low-income households, and all received subsidized care outside the home for 20 hours or more per week. Most of the children were eligible for CACFP.