September 18, 1998 

Ronald Kleinman, MD

A new study by researchers from the MGH and other institutions supports traditional beliefs about the importance of a good breakfast. The report in the September Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine finds that children who increase their participation in school breakfast programs show improvement on a wide range of measures of social and academic functioning.

Conducted in public schools in Philadelphia and Baltimore, the study found that increased school breakfast participation correlated with less tardiness and absence, higher math grades and reductions in problems like depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. The researchers also found that students were more likely to participate in school breakfast programs when the meals were offered free to all students, compared with programs that provided free meals to low-income youngsters while others paid for their breakfasts.

"What your mom told you is true – eating a good breakfast really does make a difference," says J. Michael Murphy, EdD, the study's first author and a member of the MGH Child Psychiatry Service. "What we find particularly exciting is that this is a relatively simple intervention that can significantly improve children's academic performance and psychological well-being. Now the challenge is to ensure that each child actually gets a good breakfast, either at home or at school."

Ronald Kleinman, MD, MGH chief of Pediatric Gastroenterology and senior author of the article says, "This is the first time anyone has looked at the psychological and academic impact of school breakfast over an extended period of time." Kleinman and Murphy have conducted several studies examining the impact of undernutrition in low-income children. "What we are finding overall is that those children who are consistently hungry are most likely to do poorly in school and in other aspects of their lives," Kleinman says.