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For many parents, back-to-school time is a reminder about the important role nutrition plays in fuelling growing bodies and minds.
There’s fairly strong evidence to suggest that consistently eating a nutritious breakfast can help kids think and learn better at school.
Breakfast has also been tied to higher energy levels, better mood and improved emotional health, positive impacts that can support concentration, motivation and engagement during the school morning.
But not just any breakfast. The quality of breakfast matters, too.
Here’s how breakfast can benefit brain function in the classroom, plus the foods that can help kids start the school day ready to learn.
Breakfast improves concentration, problem solving in the morning
According to a 2016 review of 45 studies conducted in children and teens, eating breakfast was associated with better cognitive performance compared with skipping the morning meal.
In particular, breakfast improved tasks involving attention, executive function (planning, problem solving and mental flexibility) and memory. Kids who skipped breakfast tended to perform worse on cognitive tests than those who ate the meal.
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A large U.S. evidence review, published in 2022, concluded that regular breakfast consumption was associated with better classroom behaviour, improved learning achievement later in the day and higher test scores.
The review also concluded that eating breakfast may provide benefits throughout the morning, including reduced hunger, greater feeling of fullness, improved mood and higher blood glucose levels.
Breakfast quality matters
The 2021 Cogni-Action Project study found that among 1,181 adolescents aged 10 to 14, those who ate more complete breakfasts, including foods from at least two of three groups (dairy products, cereal or bread, and fruit and pure fruit juice) performed better on cognitive tests than those whose breakfasts included fewer food groups.
Dairy products, in particular, were associated with better cognitive performance.
Earlier research, published in 2007, found that children who ate a low-glycemic breakfast cereal maintained attention and memory better throughout the morning than those who ate a high-glycemic cereal.
Foods with a low-glycemic index release glucose, the brain’s main and preferred energy source, into the blood stream more gradually, providing the brain with a steadier source of energy.
Breakfasts that include nutritious whole foods provide key nutrients needed for brain development and function, including carbohydrates, protein, B vitamins, iron, zinc, calcium, iodine, choline and omega-3 fatty acids.
Can adults benefit too?
Studies do suggest the cognitive benefits of eating a healthy breakfast extend to adults.
The effects, though, are generally smaller than those observed in children and teens.
Researchers believe that kids are especially sensitive to the nutritional effects of breakfast on brain function and cognition since their developing brains have higher glucose requirements.
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After a night of fasting, breakfast replenishes the supply of glucose that’s available to the brain, supporting cognitive function in the morning.
Studies conducted in adults have found that breakfast’s cognitive benefits are more pronounced when mental demands are high and when the meal includes low-glycemic carbohydrates.
Foods for a focus-friendly breakfast
To build a breakfast that supports concentration at school – and at the office – add the following foods to your family’s morning meal.
Include healthy carbohydrates
To fuel your brain with glucose, include slowly digested low-glycemic carbohydrates.
These foods include rolled oats, steel-cut oats, 100-per-cent bran cereals, dense multigrain breads, sourdough bread, 100-per-cent rye crispbread, apples, oranges, pears, berries, kiwis, peaches, apricots, milk, yogurt, chickpeas, black beans and lentils.
With the exception of dairy, these low-glycemic foods are also good sources of filling fibre.
And berries, fresh or frozen, are rich in anthocyanins, plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties thought to support cognition and brain health.
Balance carbs with protein-rich foods
Protein at breakfast helps cognitive performance by slowing the rise in blood glucose, increasing satiety and reducing hunger-related distraction.
Protein-rich foods also supply several amino acids the brain uses to synthesize neurotransmitters involved in attention, memory and learning.
Breakfast protein options include Greek and Icelandic yogurt, milk (especially ultra-filtered milk, which concentrates the amount of protein), hard cheese, cottage cheese, smoked salmon, leftover cooked chicken, nuts, nut butters, seeds, tofu (breakfast scramble), pulses (breakfast bean burritos, breakfast bowls) and high-protein grains such as quinoa and barley (porridge).
Eggs deserve a special callout thanks to their yolk’s high choline content. This vitamin-like nutrient is needed to produce acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter for mental focus and learning. You’ll find smaller amounts of choline in chicken, salmon, tofu, edamame, yogurt, milk and kidney beans.
Focus on iron
Research has consistently shown that iron deficiency, even before anemia develops, can impair concentration and cognitive performance, especially in children and teens.
Iron helps carry oxygen to brain cells and is needed for the production of neurotransmitters involved in memory and learning.
Breakfast foods that are decent sources of well-absorbed heme (animal-based) iron include eggs, turkey, chicken and smoked salmon.
Iron-fortified breakfast cereals, oatmeal, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, dried prunes, edamame and tofu are good sources of non-heme iron.
To increase the absorption of non-heme iron from plant foods, pair them with a source of vitamin C such as strawberries, kiwi, citrus fruit, pineapple, mango or bell peppers.
Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan.