Review: breakfast and school performance

Nutrition Research Newsletter, Jan, 1996

A 1978 critical review of the literature on the educational benefits of school feeding programs concluded that the available data were very inadequate. At that time, it was not possible to evaluate whether the provision of breakfast could improve school performance. In the years since then, additional research on this topic has been conducted, and Dr Ernesto Pollitt of the University of California-Davis believes that some tentative conclusions can now be reached.

The currently available literature indicates that in children who are nutritionally at-risk (as defined by clinical history and anthropometry), the omission of breakfast has adverse effects on cognition, particularly the speed of information retrieval in working memory. The data suggest that these alterations occur not only under artificial testing conditions, but also in the classroom. Beneficial effects of breakfast on cognitive performance have been demonstrated in a variety of research settings in several developing countries.

The data on well-nourished children are less consistent. Contradictions in the findings of different studies prevent definitive conclusions on whether well-nourished children experience functional deficits similar to those seen in at-risk children when breakfast is omitted. The evidence does suggest, however, that memory in well-nourished children is sensitive to the effects of an overnight and morning fast. If this suggestion is confirmed, it will have strong implications for the role of nutrition intervention in school settings in industrialized nations, as well as in the developing world.

According to Dr Pollitt, within the area of nutrition and behavioral research, perhaps the most important conclusion to be drawn at this time is that the data, as a whole, indicate that brain function is sensitive to short-term variations in the availability of nutrient supplies." Ernesto Pollitt, Does Breakfast Make a Difference in School? J American Dietetic Assoc 95(10).-1134-1139 (Oct 1995) [Correspondence: Ernesto Pollitt, Phd, Program in International Nutrition, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis CA 956161

Additional reading

R Sue McPherson, Deanna H Montgomery, and Milton Z Nichaman, Nutritional Status of Children: What Do We Know? J Nutrition Education 27(5):225-234 (Sept 1995) [Correspondence: R Sue McPherson, Phd, University of Texas School of Public Health, PO Box 20186, Houston TX 77030]

Susan J Crockett and Laura S Sims, Environmental Influences on Children's Eating, J Nutrition Education 27(5):235-249 (Sept 1995) [Correspondence: Susan J Crockett, PhD, RD, College for Human Development, Syracuse University, 112 Slocum Hall, Syracuse NY 13244-12501

Susan D Kirby et al, Children's Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Socioeconomic, Adult-Child, Regional, and Urban-Rural Influences, J Nutrition Education 27(5).261-271 (Sept 1995)[Correspondence: Susan D Kirby, DRPH, Emory University School of Public Health, Center for Public Health Practice, 1518 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta GA 303221

Ernesto Pollitt (Editor), The Relationship Between Undernutrition and Behavioral Development in Children, A Report of the International Dietary Energy Consultative Group (IDECG) Workshop on Malnutrition and Behavior, J Nutrition 125(8S)..2211S-2284S (Aug 1995)