Skipping breakfast? No way!

Breakfast is an important meal of the day; however, more and more students start to skip their breakfast partially because they do not have enough time and have to rush to their schools in the morning. Skipping breakfast is a bad habit; it also causes many negative effects such as increasing weight and having difficulty in concentration for class.

In the past, many researchers did studies of how breakfast affects students’ performance in school. For example, the Iowa researchers found that boys could not pedal as hard or as long on a bicycle when they missed breakfast. However, other researchers such as Alfred Bender, profess or emeritus of nutrition and biochemistry at Queen Elizabeth College, London, pointed out that the effect had been influenced by the teachers’ expectation and hint to the students.

Nonetheless, other researchers are not so quick to abandon the importance of breakfast, especially for children. Developmental psychologist Ernesto Pollitt of the University of California, Davis, in his own work, Pollitt and coworkers measured the late-morning problem-solving abilities of 71 children who didn't eat breakfast. "It seems clear that although many abilities are not affected at all, children who don't eat breakfast have difficulty on attention tasks and on solving certain kinds of problems,' he says. (Resource: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_v20/ai_4421936Breaking with breakfast - new research on effects of skipping breakfastPsychology Today, August, 1986 by Jeff Meer)

Pollitt was also able to detect changes in the blood glucose and insulin levels of the children who did not eat breakfast, suggesting a link to their problem-solving ability. Breakfast is the first chance the body has to refuel its glucose levels, also known as blood sugar, after eight to 12 hours without a meal or snack. Some people who skip their breakfast may experience hunger pangs because the concentration of glucose in the blood is low, causing the brain to send impulses to the stomach. The strong contraction of stomach results in the painful feeling.

Moreover, low concentration of glucose indicates the insufficiency of energy, therefore breakfast skippers feel tired, restless or irritable in the morning. For the same reason, our muscles will not be fueled and ready for physical activities.

In addition, some people mistakenly think that skip breakfast will cause their body to lose weight. In fact, some studies show that the effect if just the opposite. Skipping breakfast not only means missing out on essential nutrients, but also means making up for nutrients losses later in the day.

A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates that people who skip breakfast tended to eat about 100 calories more over the course of a day than individuals who did eat breakfast.

The negative effects of skipping breakfast may also include an increased risk of heart disease. Researchers found that healthy women who skipped breakfast for two weeks ate more during the rest of the day, developed higher "bad" LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol levels, and were less sensitive to insulin than women who ate breakfast every day. High LDL cholesterol levels and impaired insulin sensitivity will lead to arteriosclerosis -clogged arteries- and coronary heart disease.

In general, we should not miss our breakfast; instead, having a good breakfast may give us a good mood throughout the day.
information taken fromhttp://coldwaterchartwells.tripod.com/id27.html.
http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/breakfast2.shtml

http://www.eparenting.co.uk/food/the_importance_of_breakfast.shtml

http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/news-28931-22.html

http://www.newstarget.com/004771.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_v20/ai_4421936