Feed your kid 'good' breakfast for 'good' marks

A new study has found that children who eat breakfast regularly often achieve higher academic outcomes.

Researchers at Cardiff University found that the odds of achieving an above average educational performance were up to twice as high for pupils who ate breakfast, compared with those who did not.

Eating unhealthy items like sweets and crisps for breakfast, which was reported by 1 in 5 children, had no positive impact on educational attainment.

Alongside number of healthy breakfast items consumed for breakfast, other dietary behaviours like number of sweets and crisps and fruit and vegetable portions consumed throughout the rest of the day, were all significantly and positively associated with educational performance.

Lead author Hannah Littlecott said that this study offered the strongest evidence yet of links between aspects of what pupils eat and how well they do at school, which has significant implications for education and public health policy.

Littlecott said that for schools, dedicating time and resource towards improving child health could be seen as an unwelcome diversion from their core business of educating pupils.

He concluded that health improvements into the core business of the school might also deliver educational improvements as well.

The study is published in the Journal Public Health Nutrition.