Bringing breakfast to our students: a program to increase school breakfast participation.

The relationship between breakfast consumption and academic success has been extensively studied over the past 30 years. Despite the wide availability of school breakfast programs and the preponderance of evidence that breakfast consumption has positive effects on a student's ability to learn and function in the school setting, many students do not eat breakfast. A survey of students at a large Midwestern high school identified the main barriers to breakfast consumption as not having enough time in the morning to eat and not feeling hungry before school. A program that included extending breakfast cafeteria hours and providing a mobile cart that served a complete school breakfast during students' morning study hall classes was implemented. By the end of the school year, average daily school breakfast participation increased by more than 400%. In a student survey conducted 6 months after implementation of the program, more than a quarter of the students reported purchasing food from the cart.