An interventional study of Skipping lunch in Having Lunch and Omitting Lunch, sponsored by Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund. Completed at 1 site in Germany. Open to participants aged 10 Years to 13 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2014-03-10.
Sponsored by Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund · Not applicable and Interventional
Major aim of the Cognition Intervention Study Dortmund (CogniDo) was to add scientifically proven insights into cognitive effects of lunch to the existing recommendations for school meals in Germany. The Cognition Intervention Study Dortmund PLUS ties up to that aim. As an enhancement of CogniDo this study investigates the short-term effects of having school lunch versus skipping it on children's executive cognitive functions in the afternoon. The study was conducted in a comprehensive school in Gelsenkirchen (Germany) and included 215 children.
Because of cerebral particularities, children may react highly sensitive to short-term variations of nutrient supply. Therefore, an optimised composition of meals at favourable mealtime should be considered for optimal cognitive performance. The increasing implementation of all-day schools in Germany requires the children's catering for lunch at school. However, the number of 'meal skippers' is increasing among children and adolescents. Thus, the effect of skipping lunch at school on cognitive functioning is examined in this experimental cross-over trial. As prior intake of food can have an influence on the physiological effect of test meal, the children's dietary intake in the mid-morning is standardized. The intervention is integrated in everyday school life:
9.15 a.m. standardized snack within the frame of the regular break, 9.45 a.m. to 12.25 p.m. everyday school life, 12.25 p.m. either lunch (control) or water as a beverage (intervention of 'skipping meal'), 12.45 p.m. to 1.15 p.m. regular lunch break, 1.15 p.m. computerized tests of executive cognitive functioning, 2 p.m. lunch for the 'skipping meal'-group. Parameters of cognition with relevance to everyday school life are measured by a computerized test program developed by the Institute of Working Learning and Aging (Institut für Arbeiten Lernen Altern, ALA). Usual eating behaviour, sleep behaviour, physical activity and parental education were determined as control variables by questionnaires for children, parents. Migration background was requested from teachers. Body Mass Index was calculated based on measured height and weight.
Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund is the lead sponsor of 6 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
All fifth and sixth grade students of Gesamtschule Berger Feld with the consent of parents and child
Exclusion Criteria:
Metabolic diseases, epilepsy or special diet
Lunch ad libitum on test day 1 and no lunch on test day 2. Water at libitum was constantly available on both days.
Other: Skipping lunch
Also known as: Just water
• Shifting
Measuring global task-switching costs by a three-part computer trial. 1. Non-switch, or 'repeated' condition: The digits from 1 to 26 are presented to the participant in a random order with the task to put them in order. 2. Non-switch, or 'repeated' condition: The letters from A to Z are presented to the participant in a random order with the task to put them in order. 3. switch: the digits from 1 to 13 and the letters from A to M are presented to the participant in a random order with the task to put them in following order: digit (starting at 1), letter (starting at A), next higher digit, following letter etc.
Time frame: Participants were tested twice with one week wash out (1h after having/skipping lunch)
• updating
Continuous monitoring and quick addition or deletion of contents within the working memory A sequence of 106 items (pictures of fruit and vegetables) is shown to the participants. A reaction is required if the actual shown item was equal to the item shown in the second to last.
Time frame: Participants were tested twice with one week wash out (1h after having/skipping lunch)
• inhibition
In one item three superposed triangles are presented to the participants, each pointing independently either to the left or the right. In addition, only the triangle in the middle might have no top and, thus, neither pointing to the left nor the right. The participant is supposed to press the buttons left, right or no reaction according to the direction of the triangle in the middle. The outer triangles appear 0.5 ms before the one in the middle. In total, this trial consists of 102 items.
Time frame: Participants were tested twice with one week wash out (1h after having/skipping lunch)
This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2014. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund