Nutri News September 2022
The theme for September is Back to School!!! Articles include nutrigenetics and if a nutrient dense breakfast improves school performance. This issue also includes an easy lunch box recipe and shopping in season with figs. This month’s student spotlight is on our very own Georgina Brace and an interview with Professor Altice.
The theme for September is Back to School!!! Articles include nutrigenetics and if a nutrient dense breakfast improves school performance. This issue also includes an easy lunch box recipe and shopping in season with figs. This month’s student spotlight is on our very own Georgina Brace and an interview with Professor Altice.
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Does a <strong>Nutri</strong>ent Dense Breakfast<br />
Improve School Performance?<br />
<br />
Written by:<br />
Sofie Van<br />
Moorleghem<br />
From the government to our parents,<br />
we have always been told to eat a<br />
healthy breakfast to start the day off<br />
right. However, does this actually have<br />
any scientific backing? Many scientists<br />
have sought to answer this question<br />
and there is an answer!<br />
In almost all the research that has<br />
been done, there has been mostly<br />
affirmative results to prove that a<br />
nutrient dense breakfast does in fact<br />
improve scholarly performance. The<br />
University of Harvard conducted a<br />
study to evaluate students’<br />
performance based of the content in<br />
the student’s breakfast. The university<br />
divided the students in two groups,<br />
one group was serve a healthy, wellround<br />
breakfast and the other group<br />
did not; the researchers discovered<br />
that the children who ate the<br />
breakfast, not only had higher grades<br />
in total, but were more attentive and<br />
had fewer issues, emotionally and<br />
behaviorally.1 Overall, they found that<br />
as the children in group two were<br />
hungry, there was more agitation,<br />
behavioral problems, and more<br />
distraction. Similar findings were<br />
observed in another study with<br />
more than 133 students over the<br />
course of four months. In this study<br />
2/3 of the students who were eating<br />
a consistent breakfast had better<br />
attendance, decreased anxiety, and<br />
better grades. After these results,<br />
more studies were conducted to<br />
examine the accuracy of these<br />
findings.<br />
Similar results were observed in a<br />
cohort study that had 835<br />
participants and in a longitudinal<br />
study that had 835 participants.2<br />
Both of these studies evaluated if<br />
there was a long-term correlation<br />
between their cognitive function<br />
and regular consumption of<br />
breakfast. This was assessed using<br />
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