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"Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science", 2007, page 61
The Breakfast and the Learning
The importance of nutrition for health and human well-being is clear. It has direct implications for physical health and particularly for how well the brain functions. We can boost learning capacity through what we eat. For example, studies show that skipping breakfast interferes with cognition and learning. However, many students start school with an inadequate breakfast or no breakfast at all.
A landmark study undertaken in the United States examined the effects of school breakfast on academic performance among 1 023 low-income students from third through fifth grades. Results showed that children who participated in the study made significantly greater gains in overall standardised test scores and showed improvements in maths, reading and vocabulary scores. In addition, rates of absence and tardiness were reduced among participants (Meyers et al., 1989).
In Minnesota elementary schools, a threeyear Universal School Breakfast Programme pilot study showed a general increase in composite maths and reading scores, improved student behaviour, reduced morning trips to the nurse and increased student attendance and test scores (Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning, 1998).
Another study tested 29 school children throughout the morning on four successive days with a different breakfast each day (either cereal or glucose drink or no breakfast). A series of computerised tests of attention, working memory and episodic secondary memory was conducted prior to breakfast and again 30, 90, 150 and 210 minutes later. Having the glucose drink breakfast or no breakfast was followed by declines in attention and memory, but the declines were significantly reduced following a cereal breakfast.
This study demonstrates that a typical breakfast of cereal rich in complex carbohydrates can help maintain mental performance over the morning (Wesnes et al., 2003).
A landmark study undertaken in the United States examined the effects of school breakfast on academic performance among 1 023 low-income students from third through fifth grades. Results showed that children who participated in the study made significantly greater gains in overall standardised test scores and showed improvements in maths, reading and vocabulary scores. In addition, rates of absence and tardiness were reduced among participants (Meyers et al., 1989).
In Minnesota elementary schools, a threeyear Universal School Breakfast Programme pilot study showed a general increase in composite maths and reading scores, improved student behaviour, reduced morning trips to the nurse and increased student attendance and test scores (Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning, 1998).
Another study tested 29 school children throughout the morning on four successive days with a different breakfast each day (either cereal or glucose drink or no breakfast). A series of computerised tests of attention, working memory and episodic secondary memory was conducted prior to breakfast and again 30, 90, 150 and 210 minutes later. Having the glucose drink breakfast or no breakfast was followed by declines in attention and memory, but the declines were significantly reduced following a cereal breakfast.
This study demonstrates that a typical breakfast of cereal rich in complex carbohydrates can help maintain mental performance over the morning (Wesnes et al., 2003).
"Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science", 2007, page 61
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