Experts have long suggested the breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but new research suggests that breakfast can actually help make kids smarter. A new study from researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing found that children who regularly had breakfast performed significantly higher on verbal, performance, and total IQ tests. In the study, which included more than 1200 participants, researchers found that those who did not eat breakfast regularly scored lower on verbal, performance, and total IQ tests than children who regularly ate breakfast.
"Because adequate nutrition in early childhood has been linked to increased IQ through childhood, which is related to decreased childhood behavioral disorders, better career satisfaction, and socioeconomic success in adults, breakfast consumption could ultimately benefit long-term physical and mental health outcomes as well a quality of life," explained the study's lead author Dr. Jianghong Liu, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. "These findings may reflect nutritional as well as social benefits of breakfast consumption on children and hold important public health implications regarding regular breakfast consumption in early young children."
Read more about this study:
- Can Breakfast Make Kids Smarter?
Image: D. Sharon Pruitt