A nutrition survey of elementary school children in urban areas was undertaken in December of 1986, to investigate nutritional status in relation to school lunch programs. A total of 284 children in the grades from the 4th to the 6th of Myongsudai elementary school, consisting of three groups ; 1) children taking school lunch every day, 2) children taking school lunch intermittently, 3) children not taking at all, were studied. The group of children taking school lunch every day showed higher values of dietary intake, anthropometric measurements and biochemical findings, compared to those of the other groups, in general. These data underscore the necessity of nation wide school lunch programs for whole school children of Korea.