the effects of skipping breakfast on the academic performance

The effects of skipping breakfast on the academic performance 1

The Effects of Skipping Breakfast on the Academic Performance among students in

Centre for Foundation Studies International Islamic University Malaysia (CFS IIUM)

Alhafizah A. Ramos

Centre for Foundation Studies International Islamic University Malaysia


Abstract

This study investigates the effects of skipping breakfast on the academic performance among

students in Centre for Foundation Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia (CFS

IIUM). This study has provided the answers for the research question like, what is the

importance of breakfast, what is the trend of skipping breakfast among students and what are the

effects of skipping breakfast, what is the relationship of the effect skipping breakfast on the

academic performance among student in CFS IIUM and do the students aware with the

importance of breakfast. Primary data were collected by randomly distributing questionnaires to

20 students in CFS IIUM in the morning. A simple IQ test also attached in the questionnaire to

test their focus and memory on the morning they answer the questionnaire. The result of this

study is, 55% of the respondents skipped the breakfast and 20% from the breakfast skipper failed

the test compare to breakfast eater, only 15%. Since the IQ test was about to examined their

focus and memory, it can be analysed that breakfast skipper has lack focus and weak memory as

many of them fail the test. As a conclusion, students who skip the breakfast tend to have a weak

memory and lack focus. This can affect their academic performance as memory and focus is very

important to excel in the study. Skipping breakfast gives negative effects to the academic

performance.

Keywords: Effects of skipping breakfast, Skipping Breakfast, Academic performance, focus,

memory, breakfast.


Table of Contents

Pages

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………… 2

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 4

Literature Review …………………………………………………………………….... 6

Methodology ……………………………………………………………………….. 9

Findings ……………………………………………………………………….. 12

Discussion ……………………………………………………………………….. 16

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….. 17

References ……………………………………………………………………….. 19

Appendices ……………………………………………………………………….. 22


Introduction

According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2010, p.918), ‘meal’ can be

defined as an occasion when people sit down to eat food, especially breakfast, lunch or dinner.

There are five most common set meal times in the Western world yet are practiced nationwide.

They are breakfast, lunch, tea break, dinner and supper.

Apparently, dinner are always become the largest or the main meal of the day (Martin &

Chaney, 2006) but according to Davis (2004) one should “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a

prince and dinner like a pauper” (p.446). Her words tell us that breakfast is very important and

we need to eat more during breakfast compare to other meals. Many other nutritionists also

emphasize the importance of breakfast such as McAllister (2004), Wright and Larsen (2011),

Greene, Merendino and Jibrin (2009) because we need more energy in the morning than at night

due to the active tasks that we need to perform in the day (Wright & Larsen, 2011). Wright and

Larsen (2011) also stated that, “Studies shows that people who take breakfast perform better at

all task, have more energy throughout the day and tend to weigh less” (p.274).

Unfortunately Sindeli (2007), in a report on The Future of Mealtimes, revealed that

breakfast is ‘the most missed meal in Europe’ (p.130). As stated before, breakfast is very

important. So there would be a lot of negative effects when we skip the breakfast. Copious

studies have been carried out to identify the negative effects of skipping breakfast on the study

performance among students. A study carried out by a student in Murdoch University, Australia,

did not find any relationship between skipping breakfast and academic performance (Khan,

2006). Meanwhile, Phillips (2005) found that students who ate breakfast had a higher success

rate on General Biology exams than those students who skip it.


Breakfast is an important contributor to the overall dietary quality of a human (Evans,

2009). This finding is complementary to another research carried out by Nicklas, O’Niel and

Berenson (1998) where they concluded that, people who do not eat breakfast have a significantly

lower nutritional status than people who take breakfast. All these finding however need more in-

depth study to confirm whether skipping breakfast can give negative effects on the academic

performance of students.

This study is set up to identify the effects of skipping breakfast to the academic

performance of the students.

The objectives of the study are;

1. To find out the importance of breakfast,

2. To investigate the trend of skipping breakfast among students and the effects if they skip

the breakfast

3. To relate the effect of skipping breakfast and the academic performance among students

in the Centre for Foundation Studies International Islamic University Malaysia (CFS

IIUM).

4. To find out whether the students are aware with the importance of breakfast.

This study will provide answers to the following questions;

1. What is the importance of breakfast?

2. What is the trend of skipping breakfast among students and what are the effects of

skipping breakfast?

3. What is the relationship of the effect skipping breakfast and the academic performance

among student in CFS IIUM?

4. Do the students aware with the importance of breakfast?


This study will be carried out in order to find out how skipping breakfast can affect the academic

performance of the students and to create awareness to them about how important breakfast is

and they should not abandon it.

Literature Review

As breakfast always pointed as the most important meal of the day by many authors,

nutritionist and researchers like Davis (2004), McAllister (2004), Greene, Merendino and Jibrin

(2009), hence there must be a vast number of benefits we can gain by practicing breakfast.

According to Duyff (2011), after eight to ten hours without food, our body needs to replenish its

blood sugar supplies. Most importantly, the brain needs a fresh supply of blood sugar to use as

its main energy source, because it doesn't have any storage capacity like the muscle do. That

means it needs to refuel each morning so it has the energy for sustained mental work. Our

muscles also need a fresh supply of blood sugar to help fuel our physical activity.

Schmieder (n.d.) also claimed that “Starting your day with a good breakfast boosts your

energy, increases your attention span, and heightens your sense of well-being. You’ll be in better

control of your emotions.” (One Step at a Time: What to Do, para. 1). Having breakfast can also

help us in losing weight (Schlundt, Hill, Sbrocco, Pope-Cordle & Sharp, 1992; Wyatt, Grunwald,

Mosca, Klem, Wing & Hill, 2002) and lower the risk of heart failure (Djoussé & Gaziano, 2007).

Numerous researches have been carried out to identify the trend of skipping breakfast

among children and adolescent. Phillips (2005) had carried out a research on breakfast trend

among students in his college in Texas and he found that 34% from his samples do not take

breakfast. An Australian finding also provides a report on the study of an Australian survey of

699 thirteen-year-olds concerning the extent of skipping breakfast indicated that approximately

12% of the sample skipped breakfast (Shaw, 1998). A researcher concluded in his study that the


younger the generation, the higher the rate of skipping breakfast (Zasshi, 2001). Therefore, we

can see here that the trend of skipping breakfast is high among teenagers whom are the students.

Skipping the breakfast might cause us to abandon all the benefits and importance. This

habit can promote the cardiovascular risk factors such as lack of exercise, smoking, high blood

pressure, and high serum total cholesterol (Zasshi, 2001). Hence, it may increase the risk of

having cardiovascular disease. Gaining weight is also one of the problem that can arouse when

we skip the breakfast (Berkey, Rockett,Gillman,Field & Colditz, 2003).

There are studies stating that breakfast can enhance the daily nutrient intake and

improvements in nutrient intake which can be associated with significant improvements in

student academic performance (Meyers, Sampson, Weitzman, Rogers, Kayne, 1989; Kleinmana,

Hallb, Greenc, Korzec-Ramirezd, Pattonb, Paganoe & Murphy, 2002). Therefore, here we can

relate how skipping breakfast would affect the student academic performance. Nicklas et al

(1998) said people who do not eat breakfast have a significantly lower nutritional status than

people who take breakfast. A book published by OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-

operation and Development) ‘Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a Learning Science’ stated

that,

“The importance of nutrition for health and human well being is clear. It has direct

implication for physical health and particularly for how well the brain functions. We can

boost learning capacity through what we eat. For example, studies show that skipping

breakfast interferes with cognition and learning” (p.61)

The book also include several studies that support the statement like a study undertaken in the

United State examined the effects of school breakfast and academic performance among 1023

low income students from third grade through fifth grades. Result showed that children who


participated in the study made significantly greater gain in overall standardised test scores and

showed improvements in math, reading and vocabulary scores (Understanding the Brain: The

Birth of a Learning Science, 2007). In Minnesota elementary schools, a three year Universal

School Breakfast pilot study showed a general increase in composite math and reading scores,

improved student behaviour, increased attendance and test scores (Minnesota Department of

Children, Families and Learning, 1998, as cited in Understanding the Brain: The Birth of a

Learning Science, 2007). All these studies proved that breakfast really can give positive effects

to the academic performance. Hence, what would it be if we skip the breakfast regularly? How it

can affect the academic performance? Howe (2003) said that, “hunger can affect their attention

spans, making it hard to learn. Short-term hunger often arises because a child has missed

breakfast" (p.44). He included in his book several previous studies regarding to the effects of

skipping breakfast,

“Studies in Peru and the United States showed that when nine to 11 years old children had

not eaten overnight or in the morning, they were slower in memory recall and made more

errors on test (Pollitt and others 1998)” (p.44)

Smith (2002) also stated that, skipping breakfast leads to deterioration in academic performance.

In process known as metabolic starvation, focused attention, recall and coping with complex

mental tasks becomes increasingly more difficult (Smith, 2002, p.107).

Although there are various studies undertaken in finding the relationship of taking

breakfast and academic performance, further research are needed to see how breakfast really

affect the academic performance for the students in CFS IIUM. There is need of compact

evaluations of the impact of skipping breakfast to the students.


Methodology

This research paper is about to study the effects of skipping breakfast on the academic

performance among students in CFS IIUM. The objectives of this research are to describe the

importance of breakfast, to investigate the trend of skipping breakfast among students and the

effects if they skip the breakfast, to relate the effect of skipping breakfast and the academic

performance among students CFS IIUM and to find out whether the students are aware with the

importance of breakfast. In order to achieve these goals, several steps have been performed in the

research.

Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g. people, organization) from a population of

interest so that by studying the sample may fairly generalize the results back to the population

from which they were chosen. For this research, the sample population is the students of CFS

IIUM. 20 respondents are selected randomly to complete the questionnaire and the age around 18

to 21 years old. All respondents are willing to complete survey questions. Simple random

sampling method was used to select the respondents.

Survey questions are created consisting of 5 questions and 2 simple IQ test questions.

Hence, the questionnaires are divided into two parts. The first part (Part A) consist of 5

questions, including demographic question, do they skip breakfast at the particular morning, their

awareness about the importance of breakfast, what is the reasons if they skip the breakfast and

what do they feel afterward in the class when they had skipped breakfast. The first question is

asking about gender. The next 2 questions are the ‘yes or no’ and the rest are multiple choice

questions. Respondents have to tick the most suitable answers for all the questions. They can

also answer the last three questions with their own opinion on the space provided.


The second part (Part B) consists of two simple IQ test that have to be be done within 2

minutes only. The first IQ test is about spotting the difference in two pictures within a minute.

This test is carried out to test their focus.

Figure 1: The image used in the Focus IQ tests (The Wedding at Cana 'Spot the Difference', (n.d.)


Figure 2: The image used in the Memory IQ tests

(Picture Memory Test, n.d.)

The second IQ test is to study the given symbols thoroughly in one minute, and they have to list

down all the symbols they remembered.

To avoid them from cheating or looking back at the photo to get the correct answer, soon

after they study the picture, they have to fold the photo and paste it with a double tape provided

on the paper. This test is carried out to test they memory.

The questionnaires were distributed among students of CFS IIUM in my class in the

morning. This is to make sure that they did not take their lunch yet so the students whom skipped

breakfast can be identified and their IQ can be tested just before they take any food. They have to

answer the questionnaire immediately when they get it because the IQ test have a required time

to answer which is two minutes only. The questionnaires are then collected after all the students

have finished answering.

I gave the questionnaires to 10 male students and 10 female students. Only 20

respondents are used in this study. The mark for IQ test from each respondent was total up and

calculated. The full mark appointed for the IQ test is 15 for focus test, 12 for memory test, and

the total is 27. Their marks will be converted to percentage and ranked with excellent


(100% - 60%), pass (59% - 30%) and fail (29% - 0%). All the results will be transformed into

bar chart and pie chart.

I would like to test their focus and memory because these elements are very important to

perform in the class. Lack of focus and weak memory can affect their performance in the class

and indirectly can affect their academic performance in the college. Therefore, I would like to

examine whether skipping breakfast can affect their focus and memory in answering the IQ test.

Findings

Findings are discoveries based on facts, data or responses from the respondents who

participate in the research or experiment. In this study, I used survey questions to obtain

responds from the students to identify the effects of skipping breakfast to the academic

performance. I also undergo a simple IQ test to examine their focus and memory of the students

who take breakfast and skip breakfast.

After the data was collected and analyzed, it was transformed into a pie chart for Part A

question 5 and bar chart for Part B (IQ test result) to make it easier in making comparison. I

chose 20 respondents randomly from the students of CFS IIUM where there were 10 male

students and 10 female students.


Figure 3: Number of Respondents who skip the breakfast

From 20 respondents, it is found that 11 from them skipped the breakfast on the day they

answered the questionnaire. Only 9 of them took breakfast. 6 out of 10 male students skipped the

breakfast while only 3 out of 10 female students skipped the breakfast. Therefore we can see

from the bar chart, male students tend to skip breakfast more than female students.

Although the number of students whom skipped breakfast is high, result from the

question 3 of the questionnaire found that all of the respondents admit that breakfast is important

and all of them gave the same reason that taking breakfast can provide energy in the morning.

At question 4, the 11 respondents who skipped the breakfast said that the reason why they

skip the breakfast is because they were lack of time to take the breakfast.

4

7

6

3

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

MALE FEMALE

NOT BREAKFAST

BREAKFAST

Number of Respondents who Skip the Breakfast in the Morning

GENDER

NO

. OF

RES

PON

DEN

TS


Figure 4: Effects that the students feel whenever they skip the breakfast

The last question in the Part A was asking about what they feel in the class whenever

they skip the breakfast. Their responds were transformed into a pie chart above. Based on the

chart, majority of the respondents feels that they lack of focus in the class whenever they skip the

breakfast. 25% of them lack of interest to participate in the class and 20% feel sleepy in the class

whenever they skip the breakfast. Only 5% is got the other feeling which is hungry.

50%

25%

20%

5%

Effects the Students Feels Whenever They Skip the Breakfast

Lack of Focus

Lack of Interest

Sleepy

Other


Figure 5: The IQ Test Result

The next finding is the result of the IQ test. The figure above shows the ranking of the

result between two groups which are skip breakfast and take breakfast. On the ‘skip breakfast’

group, the respondents recorded the same percentage in both Excellent and Pass rank which is

18%. 20% of the respondents were failed in the IQ test whereas in the ‘take breakfast’ group,

only 10% failed the test. Although there were only 15% got excellent in the test for ‘take

breakfast’ group but 20% pass the test compare to the ‘skip breakfast’ group, only 18% pass and

the percentage of failed respondents in ‘skip breakfast group’ is significantly high.

Discussion

The trend of skipping breakfast among the students of CFS IIUM is high where 55% of

the respondents skipped the breakfast. 6 out of 10 male students skip the breakfast compare to

female students, only 3 out of 10 skipped the breakfast. This findings support the previous

research conducted by Zasshi (2001) at the Department of Public Health, Wakayama Medical

18% 15%

18% 20% 20%

10%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

SKIP BREAKFAST TAKE BREAKFAST

Excellent

Pass

Fail

The IQ Test Result

Group

Pe

rcen

tage

s


University which found that the rate of skipping breakfast in men was twice as high as in

women.

Based on the IQ test result, we can see that high percentage of failing the test come from

respondents who skipped the breakfast. Since the test was to examined their focus and memory

skill, we can concluded that, the skip breakfast respondents tend to have weaker memory and

lack focus than the respondents who took the breakfast. This finding is complementary with the

results on question 5 from the questionnaire (Q5: What do you feel afterward whenever you skip

the breakfast?). Half of the respondent admitted that they become lack of focus in the class

whenever they skip the breakfast. This confirmed the study by Gajre, Fernandez, Balakrishna

and Vazir (2008) that skipping breakfast can give negative effects on the student’s attention-

concentration, memory and school achievement. Previous study also corresponded to this result

where people who had not eaten overnight or in the morning, become slower in memory recall

and made more errors on test (Howe, 2006).

Although many of the skip breakfast respondents failed the test, but from the statistic on

the IQ test result, their percentage on excellent rank was higher than the take breakfast group.

This result is unexpected and unsatisfactory. Excellent rank should be dominated by the take

breakfast group but only 15% respondents achieved excellent in the test compare to skip

breakfast group, 18%. When the questionnaires are collected, a few questionnaires were not

answered completely on the IQ test part although the respondents took the breakfast. This may

because of they were busy and do not have much time to answer the IQ test during that time.

This would avoid them to get excellent score in the test and affect the accuracy of the result.


Since half of the respondents admitted that they become lack of focus in the class

whenever they skip the breakfast, thus the result of the IQ test was expected as more respondents

who skip the breakfast failed the test due to lack of focus. Respondents also admit that they

become lack in interest in the class whenever they skip the breakfast. Lack of focus, interest and

weaker memory can affect the performance of a student because those elements are very

important to absorb knowledge efficiently in the class. Therefore, it is clearly shown here,

students who skip breakfast can affect their academic performance.

Conclusion

This study investigates the effects of skipping breakfast on the academic performance

among students in CFS IIUM. Primary data were collected by randomly distributing

questionnaires to 20 students in CFS IIUM in the morning. A simple IQ test also attached in the

questionnaire to test their focus and memory on the morning they answer the questionnaire. As

mention earlier in the introduction, the purpose of this study was to find out the importance of

breakfast, to investigate trend of skipping breakfast and the effect of skipping breakfast, to relate

the effect of skipping breakfast to the academic performance among student in CFS IIUM and to

find out whether the student aware with the importance of breakfast.

The following conclusions can be drawn based on the findings of the study:

1. All the respondents claimed that breakfast is important as the source of energy in the

morning.

2. 55% of the respondents skip the breakfast and more male students skip the breakfast than

female students. Half of the respondents said that they become lack of focus in the class

whenever they skip the breakfast. This is the effect of skipping breakfast identified in this

study.


3. More respondents who skipped the breakfast failed the IQ test compare to respondents

who took breakfast. It’s indicated that they really lack of focus and has a weaker

memory. Focus and memory is important to perform in the class. Hence, if we lack of

focus and weak memory, it can affect our academic performance. Effects of skipping

breakfast can be related to academic performance.

4. Lastly, all the respondents who skipped the breakfast said that lack of time was the reason

why they skip it.

The results of this study showed that, skipping breakfast can affect the students’ focus

and memory. Since the focus and memory is very important to excel in the study, thus we

can conclude that, skipping the breakfast can affect the academic performance of a student.

However, these findings are only true for CFS IIUM students and cannot be generalized to

other university students. The samples are too small and attaching a simple IQ test in the

questionnaire is not a very good idea because some of the respondents do not want to answer

the IQ test and this can affect the accuracy of the result. The IQ test questions also limited to

examine the focus and memory only.

A special experiment should be done by selecting bigger number of volunteers who are

willing to become either non-skipper or breakfast skipper group for at least a week for

observation rather than using random sampling. The IQ test has to be prepared in a special

examination and the questions should be varied. This is to make sure an accurate result to be

obtained and to identify more effects than focus and memory only. The same study should be

done to other university to see if there are any similarities in the results.


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Appendices

Appendices contain:

Appendix 1: Questionnaire

Appendix 2: Slides Presentation

Appendix 3: Drafts

Appendix 4: References

the effects of skipping breakfast on the academic performance

Health & Medicine

importance of breakfast

breakfast skipper

breakfast eater

study performance

academic performance

academic performance5breakfast

academic performance2abstract

students aware