How Wholesome Breakfast Improves Child’s Academic Performance?

Breakfast is the most vital meal of the day. Children who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to have a higher intake of total carbohydrate, dietary fibre, macronutrients and micronutrients compared with children who skip breakfast. Hence, it is essential to ensure that your child has a healthy and wholesome breakfast every morning. According to a research posted on the official website for the US National Center for Biotechnology Information, regular consumption of breakfast helps in healthy weight gain, improves cognitive, behavioural and academic performance of a child.

As parents, it is important to teach your child healthy eating habits and to be a role model by eating the kind of food you would like your child to eat.

How Wholesome Breakfast Improves Child’s Academic Performance?

Did You Know? Children who regularly have a nutrient-dense breakfast have following:

• Better memory
• Concentration
• Learning Ability
• Problem-Solving Capacity

What is a Nutrient-rich Breakfast?

It does not matter whether your child’s breakfast is elaborate or simple. What matters the most is that it is a nutritious meal. Breakfast must be a balanced meal which should include a variety of nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and fat along with vitamins and minerals. Since most toddlers are likely to be fussy eaters and have a small stomach size, it is necessary that nutrient-dense foods be offered to them.

Nutrient-dense food is the one which provides large amounts of one or more nutrients along with the calories required. Dairy products, eggs, whole grains, fruits and vegetables are a few examples of nutrient-dense foods. These foods are generally a better choice as they are packed with nutrients and help in maintaining the child’s health and keep them energetic and active. Encourage your child to eat a variety of fresh fruits rather than fruit juice. Boost your child’s nutrition by blending fruits like berries, mango, banana or apple with yoghurt and/or milk. Choosing nutrition dense food allows these small portions also to provide a good amount of nutrients.

Some Nutritious Breakfast Tips

• Combine different varieties of fruits and vegetables to make your child’s breakfast more colourful and interesting.
• Choose whole grain or multi-grain bread.
• Include non-starchy vegetables like carrots, broccoli, mushrooms and tomatoes as they contain more nutrients than the starchy vegetables like potatoes
• Do not limit your child’s breakfast to eggs and milk. Surprise your child with a variety of foods (fresh toast with fruits, cereals with nuts and fruits, etc.) to make his breakfast both healthy and tasty.

Observing your child’s energy and activity levels helps you figure out whether or not their nutrition requirements are being met with the regular breakfast. If you feel s/he isn’t getting enough of nutrients, introducing a cereal in their breakfast is a great idea.

It's been a few months since I started using Nestle Ceregrow. It's loaded with nutritious multigrain cereal, milk and rich fruits. Packed with 15 vitamins, mineral and Iron for normal cognitive development, this cereal also tastes good! It's like a mother's dream come true when you don't have to chase your little one to eat a meal!

Disclaimer: This Blog is supported by Nestle Ceregrow. A child needs more nutrition than an adult. Each bowl of Ceregrow contains the goodness of grains, milk & fruits and makes up for the lack of sufficient nutrition. Follow Early Childhood Nutrition to learn more.
Calculated basis per kg body weight; ICMR 2010