Breakfast and Adolescent Academic Performance: An Analytical Review of Recent Research

ver the past several decades, researchers have suspected and confirmed various links between breakfast consumption and adolescent academic performance, although the reasons for these cognitive consequences are not fully explored nor understood (Dye & Blundell, 2002; Giovannini, Agostoni, & Shamir, 2010; Murphy, 2007). More specifically, it has not yet been determined precisely what roles various microand macronutrients play in the outcomes observed in students’ academic behavior (Kleinman et al., 2002), though a positive relationship has been drawn between breakfast consumption and many cognitive abilities (Lamport & Woodhouse, 2012; Pollitt & Matthews, 1998). In a workshop given at the MilanoPediatria meeting, Giovannini, Agustonia, and Shamir (2008) noted that children who ate breakfast demonstrated improved problem-solving, short-term memory, attention, and episodic memory (Pollitt, Lewis, Garza, & Shuman, 1983; Vaisman, Voet, Akvis, & Vakil, 1996; Wesnes, Pincock, Richardson, Helm, & Hails, 2003) in comparison to those who did not eat breakfast, as well as better cognitive performance than breakfast skippers (Dye, Lluck, & Blundell, 2000). However, Giovannini et al. reported that “the exact reasons for these effects are not fully understood” (2008, p. 98). Yet, despite the lack of clarity in this field, it is becoming more and more evident that a healthy breakfast is beneficial to a student’s academic success and deserves more in-depth study to determine the reliable correlations between breakfast foods and academic achievement (Florence, Asbridge, & Veuglelers, 2008).