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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Breakfast Habits among Schoolchildren in the City of Uruguaiana, Brazil
Published on: July 29, 2020
Effect of habitual breakfast skipping on information processing capacity, cortical response, and cognitive
Anugraha Jennifer1, Krishnan Srinivasan2, Jeneth Berlin Raj3
1Department of Physiology, Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry, India.
Objectives:
Breakfast replenishes glucose homeostasis and provides other micro-nutrients for the normal functioning of the body after a long night at night. Habitually skipping breakfast leads not only to metabolic disturbances but also to neurocognitive impairment. Hence, the current study was carried out to study the effect of skipping breakfast on neurocognitive functions.
Methods:
A 9-item breakfast questionnaire was distributed online to students for identifying habitual breakfast skippers from non-skippers based on inclusion criteria. Random blood glucose was noted and visual and auditory reaction time, critical flicker fusion frequency, and Stroop test were assessed in both groups to assess cognition.
Results:
Forty one habitual breakfast skippers who met the inclusion criteria showed increased visual reaction time, and auditory reaction time indicating cognitive impairment. A significant reduction in the Stroop test was observed among the non-skipper group when compared to the skipper group.
Conclusions:
This study suggests that skipping breakfast diminishes neurocognitive functions like problem-solving, planning, judgment, information retention, and reasoning.
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