Research findings over time:
Research conducted at the University of Birmingham in 2023 suggests that a fatty diet may impair blood flow to the brain’s key areas during stressful situations, potentially impacting mood and cognitive performance. The findings have been published in the journal Nutrients. The findings were significant high fatty foods impair the brain’s ability to regulate its blood flow in response to the mental challenges in the classroom, affecting cognitive functions like attention and decision-making
School is a stressful time for your child and adolescent. This results in reaching for a fatty snack, satiating the part of the brain that needs a dopamine fix in relation to stress. When given a choice of foods, children more often than not chose the fatty choice. Children are responding to the ads that they see on social media and commercials enticing them to eat fatty foods. A study was done in 2014 in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition And Dietetics, where children were given the choice of artificial fruit snacks and real fruit snacks or salty snacks. Most of the time, students chose artificial foods. This is why the role of parents to encourage healthy snacks is so important.
Parents hand over dollars so that their children will have access to snacks during the day. Studies over and over have shown the majority will not choose snacks that help them to keep their moods stable and learn to their fullest capacity.
Suggestions for Parents:
According to the London School of Economics and Politics:
- Olives
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Berries
- Dark Chocolate
- Boiled Eggs
- Cheese
- Greek Yogurt
- Hummus and Veggies or flat bread
- Air popped popcorn (an American addition to the list)
The lesson to be learned here is that parents need to take time everyday to pack healthy snacks so that the child is not left to their own devices to choose a snack from a machine. Talk to them about how to incorporate these into a snack they will enjoy
Research to Consider
https://info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/Assets/Articles/8-super-study-snacks
https://www.jandonline.org/article/S2212-2672(14)00465-1/fulltext
Fatty foods might impair blood flow to the brain during stressful situations, study finds
Keywords: healthy snacks, childhood obesity, attention, focus, primary school