New evidence finds that children having French fries for breakfast might not be such a terrible idea. In a study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, children were fed a variety of carb-heavy breakfasts—surprisingly, the ones that had French fries performed best on cognitive tests.
While French fries for breakfast may be reviled with health-conscious adults, an emerging topic in health research is the importance of individualized nutrition and how it relates to functional foods and nutraceuticals. Most of this work has focused on adults, with little emphasis being placed on developing children.
Notably, it has only recently been accepted that children are not just small adults. In fact, children have unique responses to nutritional interventions. Accordingly, the last decade has seen a substantial push from the scientific community towards the inclusion of children in nutrition-based research.
Carbohydrates are an essential component of a balanced diet and are often considered “brain food” as they are a major source of energy for this organ. Accordingly, research published in Physiology & Behaviour demonstrates that carbohydrate ingestion can improve learning and memory in adults. Furthermore, increases in blood sugar after consuming carbohydrates mirrors the rise in an individual’s feeling of fullness, as evidenced by a study published in Advances in Nutrition.
These traits attest to the importance of carbohydrates in potentially influencing cognitive performance and satiety in adult populations. In the new study, Nicholas Bellissimo from Ryerson University reports that a major gap in our scientific understanding still exists with “relatively few experimental studies of agri-foods on cognitive performance, mood, and memory in children.”
In the study, the effects of a variety of carbohydrate sources on post-meal satiety (i.e., feeling of fullness), blood sugar levels, and cognitive skills was explored in young boys and girls.
Children between the ages of 9 and 12 either skipped a meal or were given 50 g of mashed potatoes, French fries, hash browns, white rice, or white beans. The children then completed a set of cognitive tests at 0, 10, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes after ingesting the carbohydrate meal or skipping the meal. Additionally, at the same time, blood sugar, feelings of appetite, and wellness were measured.
The main findings from this study were that verbal declarative memory, or the number of words the children could recall from a provided list of words, was improved following the consumption of French fries. Additionally, children felt fullest following the mashed potato meal.
Ultimately, this study challenges the parental war on white potatoes. “The simplest message is that there is limited experimental evidence to exclude white potatoes from the diets of children,” Bellissimo explained. “White potatoes, at minimum, do not result in adverse cognitive performance outcomes, and at best may result in short-term benefits to cognitive performance.”
This pivotal study certainly provides “food for thought” as it lays the groundwork and rationale for future studies exploring cognition and satiety in children. “Ultimately, when you tie the modest effect of white potatoes on cognitive performance and their effects on appetite suppression, recommendations to parents might be to include a variety of vegetables in the diets of children–which includes white potatoes,” proposed Bellissimo.
Although research in nutrition, cognitive performance, and satiety in children was previously considered “small potatoes”, the research world is adopting a new mentality. Bellissimo also said that “the follow up [study] is to understand how different potato preparations and forms affect cognition in children and to understand [how they work].”
Read the full study: Effect of potatoes and other carbohydrate-containing foods on cognitive performance, glycemic response, and satiety in children in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
