Influence of breakfast composition on children's attention and memory

Ingwersen, Jeanet; Defeyter, Margaret Anne; Kennedy, David O.; Wesnes, Keith; Scholey, Andrew

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2006.07.035

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…On the glucose treatment, performance was initially worse than when no breakfast was eaten. There is also a recent report of less decline in memory performance over the morning after a low‐GI vs. a high‐GI breakfast, in 6‐ to 11 year‐old children (Ingwersen et al . 2006).…”

Section: Divergent Effects: Glucoregulation and The Limbic–hypothalammentioning

confidence: 97%

Carbohydrates and mental function: feeding or impeding the brain?

Gibson

2007

Nutrition Bulletin

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Despite over 25 years of research into carbohydrates and mental function, findings have, if anything, become more divergent in recent years, and no clear mechanistic model that satisfactorily explains such variability has been produced. At best, there is some consensus that individuals with poor regulation of glucose, and who find the tests of cognitive performance particularly challenging, may benefit from some improvement in mental function after a specific dose of carbohydrate. Even then, this is mainly limited to hippocampally mediated verbal memory. Recent developments in understanding the regulation of energy supply (principally glucose) for neuronal function suggest that it is too simplistic to assume that ingesting carbohydrates will inevitably improve cognitive function. There is a damping or buffering seen between glucose changes in blood and brain extracellular fluid, and even evidence for an acute dissociation of these glucose changes during task performance in specific brain regions. This may be mainly owing to the role of astrocytes, which are large, star-shaped cells within the central nervous system that can store glucose as glycogen, and when needed, release energy to neurones 'on demand'. Variables such as age, effort, personality, glucoregulation, time of day, task demand, task domain, and nature and amount of the carbohydrate, can all affect the outcome. One factor that could be involved in all of these variables is the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which controls release of glucocorticoid hormones such as cortisol, and is believed to be a major route by which the brain regulates its energy supply. Moreover, rapidly absorbed carbohydrate provokes a greater cortisol release during stressful tasks and, like glucose, cortisol is known to have dosedependent, and bidirectional, effects on cognitive function, especially memory. This process might help explain recent findings that carbohydrate-rich foods with lower glycaemic indices provide more benefit to mental function than high-glycaemic foods. The challenge now is to identify characteristics of both susceptible individuals and the carbohydrate manipulations that can best predict improvements in selective cognitive functions. This should be aided by a better understanding of the regula-72 E. L. Gibson

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Section: Divergent Effects: Glucoregulation and The Limbic–hypothalammentioning

confidence: 97%

Carbohydrates and mental function: feeding or impeding the brain?

Gibson

2007

Nutrition Bulletin

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“…Breakfast, as studies indicated, can have positive effects on different areas such as health, mood (2), cognition, and academic achievement (3). Cognitive functions such as problem-solving (4), short-term memory, attention, and logical reasoning have been the focus of studies in different age groups (1,5,6). In a systematic review, the authors found out a lack of research comparing the breakfast types, precluding advice for the size and composition of full and ideal breakfast for children's cognitive function (7).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Breakfast Consumption on Verbal Fluency and Verbal Working Memory Performance in Seven-Year-Old Children

Bakhtiyari

Shadnoush

Dadgar

et al. 2020

Middle East J Rehabil Health Stud

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Background: Studies have indicated that failure to eat breakfast did not affect children's performance in general cognitive tests; however, skipping breakfast might have effects on the specific aspects of cognition such as memory. Hypothetically, language as a higher cognitive function may be influenced by breakfast consumption routines. Objectives: This study aimed to compare students' verbal fluency and working memory according to their breakfast routines. Methods: We selected 60 seven-year-old children from three primary schools in the central regions of Tehran in 2017. Their parents were invited to a structured interview to fill out questionnaires consisting of information related to the child, parent, and breakfast routines. Based on the family's breakfast habits, two groups were identified: Group 1 with a full, regular breakfast routine and Group 2 with no breakfast or incomplete breakfast routine. An experienced speech therapist administered the verbal fluency task (phonemic and semantic fluency) and verbal working memory task (forward and backward digit numbers) for each student. Results: The mean scores of students with a full breakfast routine on verbal fluency tasks were at least three units more than those of students without breakfast. These differences were all significant (P = 0.001). In working memory tasks, students with a full breakfast routine had seven digits and one digit in their responses more than students without breakfast in forward and backward digit tasks, in sequence. These differences were significant (P = 0.001). Conclusions:The findings of the present study provide information on the positive effects of a regular breakfast routine on the specific cognitive functions related to language processing. Patient Consent:A pack of information sheet and consent form was sent off to the schools' principals. Then they allowed the researcher to contact family through their health advisors. All the parents were invited to a meeting at the school halls to be informed about the study and its possible consequences. At the end of the meetings, a second pack including information sheet and consent form written in simple language was passed to the families. They had three working days to decide about contribution. At the end, only 60 signed consent forms were returned.

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Influence of breakfast composition on children's attention and memory

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Carbohydrates and mental function: feeding or impeding the brain?

Carbohydrates and mental function: feeding or impeding the brain?

Effect of Breakfast Consumption on Verbal Fluency and Verbal Working Memory Performance in Seven-Year-Old Children

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