Wheaties may be “The Breakfast of Champions,” but according to a Harvard University study, having any breakfast at all may be the key to success.
Schools where free breakfast is offered to students produced higher math scores, decreased absenteeism and improved behavior among students, the study found. It reported little impact in other areas, however.
“I eat breakfast,” said Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Nick Holm. “I have cereal, orange juice and toast. Peanut butter toast to be specific. It definitely helps me focus better and makes me more energized to start the day. And it is the only thing that keeps me awake in 8 a.m. biology class.”
The study, sponsored by Project Bread, reported students who eat breakfast daily are less likely to be absent from class. Absentee rates dropped almost a third, from 9.2 days per year to 6.3 at the schools monitored by the study.
Project Bread aided the study in bringing free breakfast to 16 Boston schools.
Some Boston University students said breakfast is a part of their day, but were skeptical to say it improved concentration or participation, like the study said.
“No, I don’t eat breakfast. I don’t think it would make me focus more,” said College of Arts and Sciences freshman Yanal Yousef. “The only reason it might is that I would have to get up and therefore I would be up for a longer time, and hence more awake in class.”
Mick Cascia, a College of Communication senior, said she feels better in the morning when she forgoes an early meal.
“I never ate breakfast, not even when I was in grade school. I don’t feel good when I eat it, it makes me sick to my stomach,” she said.
Other students said they need food before their day can begin; as unconventional a “breakfast” as it may be.
“I eat breakfast every day,” said COM sophomore Ingrid Hartman. “It really does help me focus. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I get mad when my class gets out at 12:30 and they have stopped serving breakfast, but ice cream makes a good breakfast too, especially Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia.”
All it takes is a shot of caffeine in the morning and some students are good to go.
“I can’t start my day without breakfast, I usually have coffee and a croissant,” said CAS sophomore Sarah Van Daalen Wetters. “I can’t start my day without coffee. You don’t want to talk to me before I’ve had my coffee.”
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