The big cheese of meal options

Cheese is a big wheel in the breakfast stakes, in combination with ham, low-fat spread and wholegrain bread.

BREAKFAST may be the most important meal of the day, but the ideal one could surprise you.

It’s ham and cheese.

That’s according to a study led by David Benton, a professor of psychology at Swansea University.

The research showed the combination has the greatest impact on memory, work rate and attention levels.

The team looked at the glycaemic load — the rate at which carbohydrates release glucose into the blood stream — of several breakfast options.

The four-week study involved six and seven-year-old pupils who ate breakfasts with high, medium and low GL — but the same number of calories — on separate days.

Cornflakes with two spoons of sugar, accompanied by waffles and maple syrup, had a high load.

This led to a slump by late morning.

A meal of scrambled eggs, bread and jam, and a yoghurt was a middle-of-the-road combination.

But ham and cheese, accompanied by low-fat spread on wholegrain bread, had the lowest GL.

Prof Benton said: “The slower the release, the better the pupils performed.”

However, not everybody is convinced.

Helen Crawley, a lecturer in nutrition at Kingston University, said: “I’m not sure giving children ham and cheese is good, because there is too much salt in both. Also, there is a lot of research that says it is disadvantageous to have too much protein, and this breakfast is high in protein."