Abstract
Background: Breakfast consumption is labelled as the most important meal of the day. It might be of significant importance for adolescent students as it might influence their short-term memory, performance, and mood. However, the prevalence of skipping breakfast, among adolescents, in Saudi Arabia is high. Aims: To investigate the association between breakfast intake and short-term memory, performance, and mood, among Saudi female adolescents. Subjects and Methods: A Cross-sectional study was conducted in a secondary female School (Riyadh) involving 170 students (15-19 years). Structured questionnaires on breakfast eating habits, student performance at school, a standardized questionnaire mood and feeling, and a standardized short-term memory test were used for data collection. Statistical analysis used Chi2 test and ANOVA test to assess the association between breakfast intake and the studied parameters. Results: Only 39% of participants keep their daily breakfast. Frequency of breakfast intake was strongly and positively associated with improved performance (R2 =0.87, p<0.001), and to short-term memory score (R2 =0.5, p<0.05). However, no correlation between daily breakfast intake and mood was obtained. Conclusions: This study confirmed the high rate of skipping breakfast among Saudi female adolescents, and provides further evidence on the beneficial effect of breakfast intake on student’s short-term memory as well as the school performance. Nutrition education program targeting this population should be implemented to enhance its awareness on the importance of breakfast intake. Keywords: Breakfast intake, mood, short-term memory, performance, Saudi female adolescents.
Highlights
Breakfast has been studied extensively over last few years as the most important meal of the day by several nutritionists
Most of Syntax Warning: Invalid Font Weight female adolescent students live with their both parents (95%)
According to the results presented in table 3, 45% of the students scored 4 in the short-term memory test, followed by 25% who scored 5
Summary
Breakfast has been studied extensively over last few years as the most important meal of the day by several nutritionists. Several studies reported that breakfast is associated with improvement in shortterm memory, mood, long-term memory, and attention spam [4,5,6,7]. With this regard, Adolphus et al [8] reported that there is a relationship between the type of nutrient intake consumed by students and their performance in school. Breakfast consumption is labelled as the most important meal of the day It might be of significant importance for adolescent students as it might influence their short-term memory, performance, and mood. Structured questionnaires on breakfast eating habits, student performance at school, a standardized questionnaire mood and feeling, and a standardized short-term memory test were used for data collection
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