Manippa, Lupo, Tommasi 2021

We used a single-blind randomized counterbalanced crossover design, to control random variables such as the sample characteristics. We assessed the self-reported physiological and affective state as well as the cognitive performances before and after breakfast consumption, and each participant was administered with the different (blinded) croissants over two different days.   

The study used a method where participants did not know which croissant they were getting on the day. Each person tried both the high protein and high carb croissants on separate days, with the order varied between individuals to reduce the influences of biases in age, sex, and bodyweight. On each of the separate days before and after eating, the researchers asked each participant to self-report their physiological state, such as hunger and tiredness, their affective state, such as happiness and relaxation, and they measured cognitive performance, including reaction time.   

However, several factors modulate the impact of feeding on subsequent mental functioning such as the type of eating episode (i.e., breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner), the time of day, the age of the consumer, the macronutrient content of the meal, the amount of food consumed, the mode of administration and the diet history of the consumer [6,7]. Particularly, breakfast is the most investigated meal since it is considered the most important (interrupting the night-fasted state) of the day [8] and it is supposed to influence appetite, mood and cognitive performance for the rest of the day 

The researchers report that several factors influence how food affects the brain after eating, including if it is a snack or a full meal, time of day, age, the amount or volume of food, individual routine meal timing preference, and macronutrition distribution. Historically, breakfast has often been studied because it is the first time acquiring nutrients since the previous day, and that introducing energy while moving towards a depleted state can impact an individual’s mood, appetite, and mental sharpness for the remainder of the day. 

• Paste quoted text from the Results section in the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks: 

Particularly, our participants self-reported they were significantly less hungry (p<.001) and less tired (p=.030), but also happier (p=.049), more activated (p<.001) and more relaxed (p=.009) after eating breakfast than before eating breakfast (regardless of which type of breakfast was consumed). 

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The researchers found participants felt less hungry, less tired, happier, more active, and more relaxed after breakfast, showing no difference between high carb and high protein. The p-values for these findings were below the researchers’ .05, meaning that they were all statistically significant, from weakest to strongest, the results were happiness (p = 0.049), tiredness (p = 0.030), relaxation (p = 0.009), and hunger and activity (p < 0.001).

• Paste quoted text from the Results section in the article on the next line. Do not include quotation marks: 

Particularly, our participants self-reported they were significantly less hungry (p<.001) and less tired (p=.030), but also happier (p=.049), more activated (p<.001) and more relaxed (p=.009) after eating breakfast than before eating breakfast (regardless of which type of breakfast was consumed). 

The researchers found participants felt less hungry, less tired, happier, more active, and more relaxed after breakfast, showing no difference between high carb and high protein. The p-values for these findings were below the researchers’ .05, meaning that they were all statistically significant, from weakest to strongest, the results were happiness (p = 0.049), tiredness (p = 0.030), relaxation (p = 0.009), and hunger and activity (p < 0.001).

Having breakfast is fundamental to increase mood and decrease the hunger consequent to the (fast) night, as supported by numerous research. On the other hand, the lower self-reported tiredness, the increase of self-reported activity and of the short-term memory assessed by the F-DS, are novel findings which enrich the current literature. 

The researchers explain that eating breakfast consisting of an espresso coffee and either type of croissant is a core intervention that is likely to improve mood and reduce the side effects of hunger caused by not eating overnight. While they expected and predicted breakfast to have a positive effect on mood and appetite control, the self-reported findings of feeling less tired, more active, and improved shot-term memory, add new context to the existing literature.  

The authors acknowledge the limitations of their study and suggest that future research should include removing coffee or introducing decaffeinated coffee because the caffeine in espresso is a psychostimulant that most likely influenced the results, which made it harder to determine the actual intended effects of a high carbohydrate versus high protein breakfast. The second important direction for future research is to directly measure blood glucose to determine if slower reaction times after high-carbohydrate breakfast were related to blood sugar changes.  

The most challenging part for me to understand was the raw data in tables 2, 3, and 4. Although I could see that there were differences and I understood what each term meant such as standard error of the mean, it was difficult to interpret how meaningful the differences between the breakfast conditions were in practice. I only understood the practical application of the results when I looked at the p-values in the results section.