Abstract
PurposeWe tested the acute effect of breakfast (ready-to-eat-cereal [RTEC] and milk) versus (vs.) no breakfast on cognitive function and subjective state in adolescents.MethodsHealthy adolescents (n = 234) aged 11–13 years were recruited to take part in this school-based, acute, randomised, controlled, parallel groups trial with two interventions; Breakfast or No Breakfast. The breakfast intervention consisted of ad libitum intake of RTEC (up to 70 g) with milk (up to 300 ml) administered in a naturalistic school breakfast programme environment. Cognitive function was assessed at baseline and + 70 and + 215 min post-intervention in a group-testing situation, similar to a school classroom context. The CANTAB test battery included: Simple Reaction Time (SRT), 5-Choice Reaction Time (5-CRT), Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP), and Paired Associates Learning (PAL; primary outcome). Data collection commenced January 2011 and ended May 2011. This trial was retrospectively registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03979027 on 07/06/2019.ResultsA significant effect of the intervention (CMH[1] = 7.29, p < 0.01) was found for the number of levels achieved on the PAL task. A significant difference between interventions was found when baseline performance reached level 2 (JT, z = 2.58, p < 0.01), such that 100% of participants in the breakfast intervention reached the maximum level 4 but only 41.7% of those in the no breakfast intervention reached level 4. A significant baseline*intervention interaction (F[1,202] = 6.95, p < 0.01) was found for total errors made on the PAL task, indicating that participants who made above-average errors at baseline reduced the total number of errors made at subsequent test sessions following breakfast consumption whilst those in the no breakfast intervention did not. There was a positive effect of breakfast on reaction time and visual-sustained attention. The results also demonstrated interactions of intervention with baseline cognitive performance, such that breakfast conferred a greater advantage for performance when baseline performance was poorer.ConclusionConsuming breakfast has a positive acute effect on cognition in adolescents.
Highlights
Numerous studies have investigated the effect of breakfast consumption on cognitive function in children and adolescents [1,2,3,4,5]
The sample consisted of habitual breakfast consumers and non-breakfast consumers, such that 42.7% of participants reported that they consumed breakfast every day (7/ days a week) or nearly every day (5–6 days/week), 23.5% of participants reported that they consumed breakfast occasionally (3–4 days/week) and 33.8% of participants reported that they rarely consumed breakfast (0–2 days/week)
It is likely that the breakfast food provided in the breakfast intervention broadly reflected habitual breakfast intake and was, ecologically valid
Summary
Numerous studies have investigated the effect of breakfast consumption on cognitive function in children and adolescents [1,2,3,4,5]. Children and adolescents have received particular attention for a number of reasons. Breakfast skipping is common among children and adolescents [6, 7]. Breakfast has the potential to improve children’s cognitive function at school, which may benefit learning and academic performance [8, 9]. Children have a higher brain glucose metabolism compared with adults [10]. Children and adolescents are subject to a longer overnight fasting period due to higher sleep demands [11]. Breakfast consumption may provide energy for the school morning
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