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“School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study—III,” US Department of Agriculture, November, 2007
The School Breakfast Program (SBP) has grown extensively since the early 1990s. In school year 1991-1992, about half of all schools involved in the National School Lunch program (NSLP) offered a school breakfast program. By school year 1998-1999), 76 percent of public NSLP schools offered a morning breakfast. |
Ask, Hernes, Aarek, Johannessen and Haugen, “Changes in dietary pattern in 15 year old adolescents following a 4 month dietary intervention with school breakfast – a pilot study,” Nutritional Journal, December, 2006, 5:33
Improvement in school performance following school breakfast was not found in this study, but males in the intervention group reported a significant increase in school contentment (p < 0.05). In a lower secondary school class, where breakfast was served for 4 months, dietary intake changed to a more healthy profile and weight gain was reduced. |
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Mahoney, Taylor, Kanarek, and Samuel, “Effect of breakfast composition on cognitive processes in elementary school children,” Physiology & Behavior 85 (2005) 635 – 645.
This study assesses the results derived from students eating an oatmeal breakfast versus a ready-to-eat breakfast; these two groups were then compared to students eating no breakfast. The study confirmed previous findings that breakfast intake enhances cognitive performance. The oatmeal breakfast appears to support a more sustained performance than the ready-to-eat breakfast. |
Vanelli, Iovane, Bernardini, Chiari, Errico, Gelmetti, Corchia, Ruggerini, Volta, and Rossetti, “Breakfast habits of 1,202 Northern Italian children admitted to a summer sport school. Breakfast skipping is associated with overweight and obesity,” Acta Biomed September, 2005; 76; 79-85
Non-breakfast children tended to be over-weight and obese. Among the non-breakfast consumer subjects, 27.5% were overweight and 9.6% obese vs 9.1% and 4.5% respectively among school breakfast eaters.
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Dye, Shenkin, Ogden, Marshall, Levy, and Kanellis, “The relationship between healthful eating practices and dental care in children aged 2-5 years in the United States, 1988-1994,” Journal of the American Dental Association, Vol. 135, January 2004.
The data in this study suggests that improved access to well-balanced meals and to breakfast programs for children may be an important oral health promotion strategy that reduces tooth decay. |
Pierre St-Onge, Keller, and Heymsfield, “Changes in Childhood Food Consumption Patterns: A Cause for Concern in Light of Increasing Body Weights,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2003;78:1068–73.
The study finds that 16% of children between 6 and 11 years of age are overweight [95th percentile of body mass index (BMI: in kg/m2) for age], noing that, coincidentally, fast food outlets increased by 300% between 1977 and 1996. This study includes a review of food service and political practices regarding food choices for children in school.
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Jacobson, Briefel, Gleason, and Sullivan, “Designs for Measuring How the School Breakfast Program Affects Learning,” Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., prepared for the US Department of Agriculture, 2001.
This report describes study designs that the Department of Agriculture would find helpful leading to a scientifically defensible evaluation of the impact of the School Breakfast Program (SBP) on learning and cognitive development among children. |
Alaimo, Olson, and Frongillo, “Food Insufficiency and American School-Aged Children’s Cognitive, Academic, and Psychosocial Development,” Pediatrics 2001;108;44-53
This study analyzes data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Children from families that report food insufficiency displayed a greater number of negative academic and psychosocial outcomes than children from food-sufficient families. Students from food-insufficient families age 6-to-11 had lower arithmetic scores and were more likely to repeat a grade. Teenagers from these families were more likely to be suspended from school. |
Benton and Parker, “Breakfast, blood glucose, and cognition,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998;67 (4): 772S
This article compares the findings of three previous studies. Breakfast consumption influences cognition via several mechanisms, including an increase in blood glucose. Morning fasting was found to adversely affect the ability to recall a word list as well as to recall items while counting backwards. |
Kleinman, Murphy, Little, Pagano, Wehler, Regal, and Jallinek, “Hunger in Children in the United States: Potential Behavioral and Emotional Correlates,” Pediatrics 1998;101;e3
This study finds that, using a Pediatric Symptom Checklist, behavioral, emotional and academic problems were more prevalent among hungry children than non-hungry children in a same-income-level community. |
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Pollitt and Mathews, “Breakfast and cognition: an integrative summary,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998, 67 (4): 804S.
The papers presented at the International Symposium on Breakfast and Performance in Napa, CA in 1995 are summarized and integrated with data published since that time. The pooled data suggest that omitting breakfast interferes with cognition and learning, an effect that is more pronounced in nutritionally at-risk children than in well-nourished children. At the very least, breakfast consumption improves school attendance and enhances the quality of the students’ diets.
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Pollitt, Cueto, and Jacoby, “Fasting and cognition in well- and undernourished schoolchildren: a review of three experimental studies,” American Journal of Clinican Nutrition, 1998 April; 67(4):779S-784S.
The consequences of overnight and morning fasting, particularly among the children who were nutritionally at risk, included slower stimulus discrimination, increased errors, and slower memory recall. The authors propose that these alterations result from a state of metabolic stress in which homeostatic mechanisms work to maintain circulating glucose concentrations. |
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“Guidelines for School Health Programs to Promote Lifelong Healthy Eating,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 14, 1996 / Vol. 45 / No. RR-9
This report summarizes strategies most likely to be effective in promoting healthy eating among school-age youths and provides nutrition education guidelines for a comprehensive school health program. |
Gleason, “Participation in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1995;61(suppl):213S-20S
This study examines data from the School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study. The simple availability of the School Breakfast Program does not appear to influence the likelihood of students eating breakfast. The cost of the meal is a factor. Students certified for free or reduced-price meals are more likely than non-certified students to participate in a school breakfast program. |
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