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2008-08-05 07:48:55
Mon Aug 4, 11:17 AM ET
A new study suggests adolescents and young adults may be less attentive in
school when they skip breakfast. Moreover, the effect of missing this meal is
different in boys and girls, the researchers found.
Dr. Katharina Widenhorn-Mueller of Ulm University and her colleagues note in
the medical journal Pediatrics that males reported being in a worse mood when
they went without breakfast, and their visuospatial memory was also negatively
affected, but the same wasn't true of girls.
While parents and teachers often argue that eating breakfast is essential for
school success, one review of more than 50 years of research on the topic found
that "evidence in support of breakfast is equivocal," Widenhorn-Mueller and her
team note.
To examine the effects of eating breakfast on learning in students' natural
environment, the researchers looked at 104 boarding school students aged 13 to
20. Half of them ate a standardized breakfast on the first day of the study and
half didn't, after which both groups completed several tests of cognitive
function and a questionnaire designed to gauge their mood. A week later, the
breakfast group fasted and underwent the tests, and vice versa.
Eating breakfast had no effect on students' ability to sustain attention, but
all of the students reported feeling more alert after eating breakfast. Boys
said their mood was better after they ate breakfast, while they also scored
better on tests of visuospatial memory.
There are several ways that eating breakfast might be helpful, the researchers
note; it could give people the energy and nutrients they need to produce brain
signaling chemicals known as neurotransmitters, while the protein, carbohydrate
and fat composition of the meal might also effect mood.
"Alternatively, if breakfast is consumed with other students or with family
members, then the social interaction might lead to increased alertness, a
prerequisite for the successful completion of cognitive tasks," they write.
The researchers conclude by calling for more research into the gender
differences they observed.