Abstract:
Background: The positive effect of consumption of breakfast in academic performance,
specially memory and concentration of school children is widely accepted. However, there is a
dearth of evidence in objective assessment of memory and concentration.
Objectives: To describe the patterns of breakfast consumption and their association with
concentration and memory of Ordinary Level students of Christ King College, Pannipitiya.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 102 students in grades 10
and 11 of Christ King College, Pannipitiya. Data were collected using a self-administered
questionnaire and four activities which are parts of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
and Saint Louis University Mental Status Examinations (SLUMS). Frequencies were generated
by cross-tabulations to generate descriptive statistics and analyzed with Chi Square distribution
test.
Results: Out of the 102 students, 37% of students had consumed breakfast only 3 days or less in
weekdays. Of them, 28.94% (n=11) had felt sleepy and 28.94% (n=11) had headache when they
missed their breakfast. ‘No appetite’ (60.52%) followed by ‘no time’ (36.84%) were mentioned
as the common reasons for skipping breakfast. Most of the students (65.69%, n=67) had
breakfast at home. The 8.82% of students (n=9) had taken breakfast after 10.00 a.m. Students
who consumed breakfast on that day performed better in objective assessment of memory and
concentration than those who did not, and this difference was found to be significant (p=0.029).
Self-perceived memory scores of those who had their breakfast were better than those who
missed their breakfast (p=0.363); self-perceived concentration scores of those who missed their
breakfast were better than those who had their breakfast (p=0.423), however, those differences
were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Considerable proportion of students do not consume breakfast regularly. Lack of
appetite and lack of time are the possible reasons. Consumption of breakfast is important for
memory and concentration of students.
