Teenagers who gorge on sugary and highly processed junk food for breakfast score lower in academic tests than their peers who consume healthy, nutritious foods before school.
Skipping breakfast has long been associated with lower academic performance and increased anxiety among school students, but University of NSW research has also found an unhealthy first meal of the day is just as detrimental as having nothing at all.
Brothers Jude and Nate Roberts enjoying a healthy breakfast at their home.Credit: Louise Kennerley
They surveyed 648 private school students aged 13 to 15 and tracked their performance on a science test hours later in the day.
Eating fruit, dairy, whole grain cereals and drinking plain water resulted in higher motivation and test scores when compared to teenagers who consumed sugary soft drinks, processed meat, fast food and unhealthy bakery goods.
The study’s author, University of NSW Professor Andrew Martin, said the positive effects of eating breakfast appeared to linger for hours, with those who ate a healthy first meal also performing better in the science test at the very end of the school day.
“Breakfast effects went beyond whether it was the first lesson or the last lesson that day,” he said.
The research used private school students and controlled for socioeconomic status, gender, physical activity, previous academic achievement, conscientiousness and the amount of parental support.
“One thing we’re particularly proud of in this research, is the number of things we were able to control for and found that breakfast leapfrogged all of that,” Professor Martin said.
About 20 per cent of teenagers surveyed had skipped breakfast, while almost 30 per cent had consumed an unhealthy breakfast the day they were surveyed for the study.
Martin said providing every student with a small and healthy mid-morning snack, such as a piece of fruit, was a small, simple education policy change that would boost results.
“It is a fairly straightforward educational intervention. It is low-hanging fruit,” he said.
UNSW Scientia Professor Andrew Martin from the school of education.
Nutritionist Kristen Beck said it had become increasingly difficult for parents to discern healthy foods from those laden with sugar in the supermarket.
“What I get very mad about from a public health perspective is people are trying to make healthy choices, but it is hard to work out what is healthy,” she said.
“Realistically, I would say a banana and a cup of coffee is a better breakfast.”
Earlier this month, it was revealed that Coca-Cola Amatil had increased the amount of sugar in Fanta by 60 per cent since radically reducing it in 2020.
The company has signed up to the Australian Beverage Council’s pledge to lower sugar levels by 25 per cent between 2015 and 2025.
Meanwhile, some popular iced coffee brands’ 750ml varieties contain up to 17 spoons of sugar, and NSW Health estimates a bowl of grain cereal, coco puffs or fruit loops (which are marketed as breakfast food) contain about four teaspoons of sugar.
Children who have jam, honey or a chocolate spread on some toast in the morning ingest up to five teaspoons of sugar.
Jude Roberts, 15, often eats rice bubbles for breakfast, while his older brother Nate, 17, prefers a little more variety, including yoghurt, avocado, tomato, mushrooms and feta cheese.
Their mother Kerrie Roberts said she tried to buy breakfast foods for them with no added sugar.
“Cereals are a very convenient breakfast … it is easy for the kids to self-serve... I think it is being conscious of what is healthier versus the less healthy ones,” she said.
“It is a good first step, a second first step is to not have sugar and processed carbs and not having your blood sugar spiking.”