Beans on toast is the ideal breakfast for students - especially girls - who want to perform better, according to new research.
Girls overall need a more satisfying breakfast than boys if they are to make the most of their educational potential, a study conducted at the University of Ulster has found.
The findings, due to be presented at the ninth European Nutrition Conference in Rome this week, found that eating toast could improve performance, but eating beans on toast was even better.
Dr Barbara Stewart, from the Northern Ireland Centre for Diet and Health, led the research project, where pupils were fed a breakfast of toast or beans and toast, then tested on cognitive ability. "Both types of breakfast improved the time taken to select the correct answer on tests of attention and memory. But as the tests became more difficult respondents who had eaten the beans on toast performed better," Dr Stewart said.
A number of studies have indicated that a breakfast high in carbohydrates improves academic performance.
Girls appear to benefit the most because carbohydrates counteract a negative mood.
To perform well in school, girls need to have mood and cognition interacting well.
Boys perform better when their breakfast leaves them feeling a little hungry, the research found.