Relationship Between Habitual Breakfast and Intellectual Performance (logical Reasoning) in Well-nourished Schoolchildren of Madrid (Spain)

Objective: To determine the relationships between habitual breakfast habits and performance in verbal aptitude, logical reasoning and mathematical tests in a group of well-nourished scholars from Madrid.

Design: The study subjects were 180 children between 9 and 13 y of age. A dietetic study was undertaken using a 7-day food record. Scholastic aptitude was examined using the scholastic aptitude test (SAT-1) test.

Results: Breakfast made up 19.1% of total daily intake. No differences were found between subjects in terms of personal data or total diet with respect to whether they habitually took adequate breakfasts (AB) (ie, more than 20% of daily energy being provided by this meal) or inadequate breakfasts (IB) (less than 20%). However, AB subjects achieved better reasoning scores in the SAT-1 test.

Conclusions: The normal breakfast habits of schoolchildren should be taken into account when studying diet-mental function relationships, even when studying well-nourished populations.