Children who eat breakfast before school are twice as likely to do well

Pupils who eat breakfast are up to twice as likely to do well at school as those who do not, according to a study of 5,000 pupils from 100 schools.

Researchers found a “significant link” between eating breakfast and performing above average on assessment scores. There was also a strong link between eating a healthy breakfast — such as cereal, bread, dairy or fruit — and doing well at school.

There was no such link for the one in five pupils who ate junk for breakfast, such as crisps or sweets.

The study, led by a team at Cardiff University, asked pupils aged nine to 11 what they ate for breakfast and during the day, and followed their educational progress for up to six to 18 months.

A good breakfast was strongly linked to performing above average on teacher assessments, and there was a link for those pupils who also ate fruit and vegetables at other times of the day.

Dr Graham Moore said: “We analysed links between whether young people were eating breakfast and the quality of that breakfast. There’s a significant association between eating breakfast and doing well, but there is also a link between a healthy breakfast and doing well.

“The odds of achieving an above-average teacher assessment score were up to twice as high for those pupils who ate breakfast. The odds of scoring above average were between 50% and 100% higher if any breakfast was eaten.”

Dr Moore said it did not matter whether pupils ate breakfast at home or at school. “The main thing is to make sure they have a breakfast,” he said.

Pupils were asked to list all the food and drink they consumed over 24 hours, including two breakfasts.

Hannah Littlecott, lead author of the study, said: “While breakfast consumption has been consistently associated with general health outcomes and acute measures of concentration and cognitive function, evidence regarding links to concrete educational outcomes has until now been unclear.

“This study, therefore, offers the strongest evidence yet of links between aspects of what pupils eat and how well they do at school, which has significant implications for education and public health policy”.

“For schools, dedicating time and resources towards improving child health can be seen as an unwelcome diversion from their core business of educating pupils, in part due to pressures that place the focus on solely driving up educational attainment.

“But this resistance to delivery of health-improvement interventions overlooks the clear synergy between health and education. Clearly, embedding health improvements into the core business of the school might also deliver educational improvements as well.”