The short-term effects of breakfast on the cognitive functions of school children - abstract

ABSTRACT

A large sum of money is spent annually on school feeding programmes in developed and developing countries. However, a few of these programmes have been evaluated in developing countries. The short-term effects of breakfast on cognitive functions were examined in 97 undernourished (weight-for age < 1 SD) and 100 adequately nourished (weight-for-age > - 1 SD) children attending grades three and four of four remote rural schools in Jamaica. Half of the children were given breakfast and the other half a quarter of an orange as a placebo at 830 a.m. Treatment began at least one week prior to testing. Children were retested a few weeks later when the treatment order was reversed. The cognitive functions measured were sustained attention (Memory and Search), auditory short-term memory (Digit Span), fluency and choice reaction time (Numbers). Girls performed better than boys in tasks of sustained attention and choice reaction time (p<0.001 and 0.002, respectively). Breakfast had a beneficial effect in scores of fluency in the undernourished group not in the adequately nourished group. Both adequately nourished and undernourished boys scored higher in test of digit span when given breakfast. The results suggest that breakfast programmes can have some benefits on children's cognitive functions (AU)