Perhaps this is an easy way to protect teen from depression, anxiety and disobedience - by simply making a complex breakfast as suggested by Australian research. This study is on 800 students of 14 years old over a 3-day food intake, irrespective of family income, the student’s weight or exercise routine. Students who ate from more food groups for their morning meal scored higher on a child behaviour checklist, with an improvement in mood seen for every extra food type added.
Among the important breakfast, cereal and milk in particular supply calcium, iron and B vitamins that assist neurotransmitters, chemicals needed to transfer information in the nervous systems that are directly responsible for behaviour and mood.
Breakfast has long been thought vital but research has proven it is most important pre-adulthood as young people are not able to store nutrients as effectively.
“The liver stores nutrients, but kids have a much smaller liver, so until they become fully grown they can’t store nutrients as effectively,” the dietician said.
“For that reason breakfast is the most important way for them to get vitamins and minerals for brain function needed after the overnight fast.”
“It didn’t matter what they added, just that they added something different like a banana to their cereal to make that meal more complete with vitamins and minerals,” said lead researcher Therese O’Sullivan, from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth.
“From what we found, that makes a huge difference.”
The research will be presented at the national dieticians conference on the Gold Coast this week.
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