UQ Laureate Fellow Professor Karen Thorpe from the Queensland Brain Institute led a study of more than 900 childcare centres across Queensland that showed those in disadvantaged communities, where food insecurity was highest, were less likely to provide meals to children than those in more affluent areas. "We discovered only 65 per cent of childcare centres in rural and remote areas provide food," Professor Thorpe said. "Often it's about keeping costs down, with services providing lunch for children charging up to $140 a day compared to as low as $60 a day for those without meals."