title: Breakfast Intake and Composition Is Associated with Superior Academic Achievement in Elementary Schoolchildren.
abstract: To determine whether breakfast consumption or content affects academic achievement measured by standardized tests.
  
  
  
  Baseline data were collected in fall of 2011 from 698 students (50.5% female, age = 7.5 ± 0.6 years) living in the state of Kansas. Academic achievement was assessed using 3 components from the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT-III). Prior to taking the WIAT-III, participants completed a breakfast recall of all foods and drinks consumed that morning, which was analyzed using Nutrition Data System for Research (NDS-R). WIAT-III scores were compared between breakfast and non-breakfast consumers in a sample (n = 162) matched for age, sex, race, education level of both parents, household income, body mass index (BMI), and cardiovascular fitness, and Pearson correlations were calculated from all breakfast eaters (n = 617) between test performance and components of the breakfast.
  
  
  
  When compared to non-breakfast consumers, the breakfast consumers had significantly higher scores in all 3 WIAT-III components (all p < 0.05). In breakfast consumers, servings of fruit juice were negatively correlated with reading comprehension and fluency standard score and mathematics standard score (both p < 0.0001), and greater servings of whole grains were significantly related to higher scores in reading comprehension and fluency and mathematics (both p < 0.05).
  
  
  
  Both breakfast consumption and the content may be associated with improved standardized test performance in elementary school students.
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Lauren T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Ptomey
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Felicia L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Steger
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Matthew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Schubert
authors.affiliation: c The University of Kansas Medical Center , Kansas City , Kansas.|d Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis, and Policy, Texas Tech University , Lubbock , Texas.
authors.forename: Jaehoon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Erik A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Willis
authors.affiliation: b Department of Dietetics and Nutrition.
authors.forename: Debra K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Amanda N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Szabo-Reed
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Washburn
authors.affiliation: a Cardiovascular Research Institute, Division of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Joseph E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Donnelly
mesh_terms: D062408:Breakfast; D002648:Child; D002523:Edible Grain; D004522:Educational Status; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D000067030:Fruit and Vegetable Juices; D006801:Humans; D007615:Kansas; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D011932:Reading
keywords: academic achievement; breakfast; children; diet; elementary school