Is there any evidence regarding the effects of breakfast on cognition or mental tasks?

The evidence surrounding this topic is equivocal and methodologically heterogeneous. Some studies involving healthy adults^[1] suggest a small benefit of consuming breakfast for memory, specifically regarding particularly delayed recall, which involves reproducing information learned about 15–45 minutes prior. However, overall, no cognitive differences after skipping breakfast are observed.

As with other research on breakfast consumption, these studies are acute and do not differentiate between people who habitually eat breakfast and people who do not. Thus, it’s possible that the memory effects are simply due to the fact that people who habitually eat breakfast are not physiologically adapted to skipping it. Nevertheless, it is worth pointing out that there is no strong evidence favoring breakfast for cognition, as it is commonly believed.