Skipping breakfast and experiencing hunger impair
children’s ability to learn
Children who skip breakfast are less able to diff erentiate among visual
images, show increased errors, and have slower memory recall.1
Children experiencing hunger have lower math scores and are more likely to repeat
a grade.2
Behavioral, emotional and academic problems are more prevalent among children
with hunger.3
Children experiencing hunger are more likely to be hyperactive, absent and tardy,
in addition to having behavioral and attention problems more oft en than other
children.4
Children who are undernourished have poorer cognitive functioning when they
miss breakfast.5
Teens experiencing hunger are more likely to have been suspended from school
and have diffi culty getting along with other children.6
Children with hunger are more likely to have repeated a grade, received special
education services, or received mental health counseling, than low-income
children who do not experience hunger.7
•
•
•
•
Eating breakfast at school helps improve children’s
academic performance
Children who eat a complete breakfast, versus a partial one, make fewer mistakes
and work faster in math and number checking tests.8
Children who eat breakfast at school – closer to class and test-taking time –
perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast
at home.9
Providing breakfast to students at school improves their concentration, alertness,
comprehension, memory, and learning.10,11,12
Children who eat breakfast show improved cognitive function, attention, and
memory.13
Participating in school breakfast is associated with improved math grades,
attendance and punctuality.14,15
Children perform better on tests of vocabulary and matching fi gures aft er eating
breakfast.16
Consuming breakfast improves children’s performance on mathematical tasks,