Benefits of a Higher Protein, 'Egg-cellent' Breakfast in the Classroom

This study will test whether whether the implementation of and Egg-cellent 'Breakfast in the Classroom' improves school breakfast participation and breakfast consumption in middle school adolescents; whether the implementation of 'Breakfast in the Classroom' improves appetite control, mood, cognitive performance, and unhealthy snacking behavior in middle school adolescents when compared to a traditional school breakfast program.

The investigators propose an 4-week cross-over design breakfast study in children enrolled in 6-8th grade within the Center School District in the Kansas City, Missouri. This school will begin their 'Breakfast in the Classroom' program on March 26, 2018. Prior to the start of 'Breakfast in the Classroom', baseline data will be collected on the students who wish to participate in the study. Baseline data includes anthropometric assessments; demographics; current eating habits; cognitive performance; appetite; and mood. Following baseline, the students will be provided a breakfast that meets all the requirements for a reimbursable school breakfast with the addition of two eggs for 3-weeks: At 4 weeks (3 weeks after initiation of the program), the study participants will complete a similar outcomes to those completed at baseline.

The breakfasts for the 3-week program will adhere to the United States Department of Agriculture nutrition requirements for Grades 6-8.

The breakfasts for the 3-week program will adhere to the United States Department of Agriculture nutrition requirements for Grades 6-8 but will include an additional 2 large eggs/breakfast.

Participation at during the traditional school breakfast program and throughout the Breakfast in the Classroom program will be determined by the electronic school meal tracking system that logs student participation each day for breakfast and lunch.

During one day, a questionnaire assessing previous breakfast habits will be given to participants. This questionnaire asks how many days per week they consume various breakfast foods.

During one day, a questionnaire asking the participants what happens when participants consume breakfast and skip breakfast will be administered. They will be given a list of choices (multiple selections are allowed) and the units for analysis will be binary (they chose it or did not choose it).

During one day, questionnaires assessing typical snacking behavior will be completed once. Participants will be asked to think about what they ate during the past week. They will be asked how many times they ate a variety of foods throughout this week. The students will complete these on their respective Chromebook laptops or will be provided paper copies (if their Chromebook is not available).

During one day, cognitive performance assessments will occur once between 120 min and 180 min after breakfast using the online CNS Vital Signs neurocognitive assessment system during one day. The CNS Vital Signs system contains a battery of computerized tests to assess attention, memory, executive function, and cognitive flexibility. The assessment will occur outside of classroom learning activities.

Questionnaires, assessing hunger, fullness, prospective food consumption, and eating initiation, will be completed during the following times for 1 day immediately before lunch. The questions are worded as "how strong is your feeling of" or "how strong is your desire" with anchors of "not at all" to "extremely." The students will complete these on their respective Chromebook laptops or will be provided paper copies (if their Chromebook is not available). All results will be a number from 0 ("not at all") to 100 ("extremely") with the unit "of out of 100."

Questionnaires assessing tiredness, sleepiness, energy, irritability/agitation, etc.) will be completed during the following times for 1 day immediately before lunch. The questions are worded as "how strong is your feeling of" or "how strong is your desire" with anchors of "not at all" to "extremely." The students will complete these on their respective Chromebook laptops or will be provided paper copies (if their Chromebook is not available). All results will be a number from 0 ("not at all") to 100 ("extremely") with the unit "of out of 100."

Questionnaires assessing whether they ate breakfast or skipped breakfast and what types of foods they ate (if they ate breakfast) will be completed for 5 consecutive days during baseline.

Inclusion Criteria: All students from the Center Middle School in Kansas City, MO who choose to participate and whose parent/legal guardian (excluding Wards of the State) signs the consent will be included. Exclusion Criteria: Wards of the State will be excluded from this study.