A Study to Assess Impact of Breakfast Eating Habit on Cognitive Ability Among Adolescents (16-18years) in Selected Pre-University Colleges, Mangalore

Breakfast is considered the first meal of the day, which is believed to nourish the human brain with glucose, carbohydrates, proteins, and other nutrients. It is said that adolescents are the population who tend to skip breakfast than any other age group. Thus, a descriptive study was conducted to assess the impact of breakfast eating habit on cognitive ability among adolescents (16-18 years). Using simple random sampling technique 100 samples were selected from four pre-university colleges, Mangalore. Data was collected using a questionnaire on breakfast eating habit and cognitive ability tests (short term memory test, letter cancellation test, and symbol digit substitution test) in the morning hours within 11.00 am. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study concluded that, students with regular breakfast eating habit as opposed to irregular breakfast eating habit had beneficial influence on cognitive ability tests like short-term memory test, letter cancellation test and symbol digit substitution test. Regular breakfast eating habit has positive effect on the cognitive ability among adolescents.