We've all heard the saying at one point or another - that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Most scientific and nutritional research has backed that up, but now a new study suggests that not only will skipping breakfast making adolescents and young adults less attentive in school, but it might also have different affects in boys and girls.

In the report published in the medical journal "Pediatrics", Dr. Katharina Widenhorn-Mueller and her colleagues at Ulm University reported males being in a worse mood when missing breakfast, and that their visuospatial memory was also negatively affected. However, the same effects were not found in girls.

Researchers examined the effects of eating breakfast by looking at 104 boarding school students between the ages of 13 and 20. Half consumed a standardized breakfast on the first day of the study, and half did not. After this they completed a questionnaire designed to gauge their mood, and several tests of cognitive function. A week later the two groups swapped places - the breakfast group fasted, while the non-breakfast eaters got to eat.

What the researchers found that was eating breakfast had no effect on their ability to sustain attention. However, they did all report feeling more alert after eating breakfast. Boys had additional effects, reporting better moods and scoring better on tests of visuospatial memory.

Researchers note that eating breakfast may be helpful because of several reasons, including:

• It could give people the energy and nutrients they need to produce brain signaling chemicals known as neurotransmitters
• The protein, carbohydrate and fat composition of the meal might also effect mood.
• If breakfast is consumed with other students or with family members, then the social interaction might lead to increased alertness, a prerequisite for the successful completion of cognitive tasks

The researchers concluded their report by calling for additional studies into the gender differences they noted.