Association between the breakfast status and learning efficiency of senior high school students

Objective To understand the association between breakfast status and the learning efficiency of senior high school students,and to further develop their nutritional health education and provide scientific evidences for intervention.Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1 138 senior high students in grades 1-3 who were selected by cluster sampling method in Anhui and Hebei Province.Results About 52.20% of senior high students had breakfast every day.The percentage of having breakfast among female students (59.14%) was higher than that among male students (44.98%),and there was significantly statistical difference between them (x2 =22.840,P<0.01).Only 5.27% breakfast for students included four kinds of food,namely cereal food,meat,milk and milk products,vegetables and fruit.Monthly income per capita in each family was a key factor influencing the quality of breakfast.Cereal category (73.64%) captured the highest percentage of breakfast.The time,place,standard of breakfast,eating enough for breakfast and others were all the protective factor of improving learning efficiency (P<0.01).Conclusion Low rates and poor quality of breakfast consumption are common among students in senior high school.Learning efficiency may be related to the quality of breakfast.We should strengthen the related nutritional health education in different channels,so as to establish a good eating habit and improve the learning efficiency.