Kingsmill
A HEALTHY BREAKFAST LEADS TO A HEALTHY MIND, AS WELL AS BODY
The Kingsmill Breakfast Report written by Clinical Psychologist Professor Tanya Byron and Expert Nutritionist, Amanda Ursell reveals ... the truth behind the most important meal of the day ...
A healthy breakfast reduces your daily stress by 59%
The study shows that starting the day with a healthy breakfast reduces stress levels by a massive 59%. Professor Tanya Byron says, "... a poor breakfast or no breakfast leads to substantially heightened stress levels and given the understanding of the role of stress in the deterioration of thinking, problem solving, focus, concentration and behaviour, has profound implications for everyone, adults and children alike."
A nutritious start to the day aids concentration and performance
Professor Tanya Byron says, "A lack of breakfast leads to impaired mental functioning."
Our study shows that people who have a nutritious breakfast display a host of improvements when completing mental agility tests, with 70% showing dramatic improvements when completing numerical reasoning tests, after eating a nutritious breakfast of toast with wholegrain.
Professor Tanya Byron continues, "... we improve our daily functioning and general performance by ensuring that we have a wholegrain start to the day. This is especially true of children of school age."
Parents are most influential role models when it comes to eating
We're worried that children are influenced by poor role models and skinny celebs but Professor Tanya Byron says it's often much closer to home, "If a child sees their Mum skip breakfast they unintentionally and instinctively copy this behaviour. We saw this to be the case with both boys and girls. It's a clear indication that the classic ‘do as I say and not as I do' needs to be challenged to shift unhealthy eating habits."
The study also reveals that the children who tried new foods at breakfast showed a significant shift in attitude when it comes to other mealtimes.
Breakfast with wholegrain sets the tone of the day
A good healthy breakfast had a positive impact on our research families' subsequent meals, making them less prone to snacking and grazing throughout the day.
Expert Nutritionist Amanda Ursell says, "Instead of coming out of school starving hungry, some of the children in our research came home and were not begging for their usual chocolate and snacks. This could be down to their healthy breakfast containing wholegrain, which had a knock-on effect, helping to keep them more balanced throughout the day."
Making time for a daily family breakfast can have positive effects on children's behaviour
Professor Tanya Byron said "By imposing a simple yet consistent morning structure into households that lacked a breakfast routine, we found that the behaviour of the children was vastly improved - they were settled, able to focus on eating breakfast (at a table without watching the TV), more willing to try new foods, and more communicative.
"It seems not only does a wholegrain breakfast reduce stress levels but also a clear and well organised routine around the breakfast being eaten reduces the general morning family stress levels. This again can be hypothesized as having a positive impact on the way children start their day not only at home but also at school."
So, what is a ‘healthy, nutritious' breakfast?
For the purposes of the study, a healthy breakfast consisted of Kingsmill bread with wholegrain. Amanda Ursell commented, "An ideal breakfast should include wholegrains, which provide carbohydrate, dietary fibre and protein. Unlike the UK, the US has clear guidelines over how much wholegrain you should eat - they recommend eating 48g of wholegrain a day. As an example, eating two slices of Kingsmill 50/50 at breakfast provides 50% and two slices of Kingsmill Tasty Wholemeal provides 100% of your daily wholegrain - an easy way to reach this target.
"Like it or not, many children are ‘picky eaters' and it's often easier to get them to eat white bread - this was equally true of our research families. From this study, it's clear that the unique benefit of Kingsmill 50/50, is particularly appealing as a positive way to get children to eat a nutritious breakfast, without them rebelling. This bread is made from 50% white flour and 50% wholegrain flour, which helps aid and maintain regular digestion. Bread or toast at breakfast also acts as an effective delivery vehicle, offering a choice of nutritious toppings to help Mums give children the best start to their day."
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50% of Brits confess to missing breakfast sometimes and The Kingsmill Breakfast Report was designed to address the nutritional and emotional as well as psychological impact of this most important mealtime.
As part of the study, Professor Tanya Byron and Amanda Ursell worked closely with two families who previously described breakfast as a ‘battle ground', to help them establish a structured breakfast routine.
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