NO WONDER THE SCOTS USED TO BE SO SMART:

Breakfast choice affects learning for rest of the day: Kids who have the whole grains in the morning do better on tests than those who eat sugary cereals, a new study finds. (Sally Squires, September 5, 2005, LA Times)

Want to give your children a head start in school this year? If you normally serve them cold cereal for breakfast, instead consider serving them oatmeal. [...]

So what gives oatmeal its punch? The researchers suggest that the mixture of protein, fiber and complex carbohydrates may account for the differences in test performance. "Oatmeal may provide a slower and more sustained energy source and consequently result in cognitive enhancement compared to low-fiber, high-glycemic, ready-to-eat cereal," the team concluded, noting that the results suggest "the importance of what children consume for breakfast before school."

The findings "reinforce the recent move toward whole grains," said Holly A. Taylor, professor of psychology at Tufts University and a coauthor of the study. "Since the brain uses glucose, and the source of glucose is diet, having a sustained-release food for breakfast is going to have beneficial effects on memory and attention."

Here are other benefits and tips for eating a healthy breakfast:

• Not just for the young. A University of Toronto study of 22 healthy men and women, ages 61 to 79, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2001 found that breakfast improved memory. And researchers at the University of Wales, Swansea, have reported that adults who ate a breakfast of low-glycemic foods such as whole-grain unsweetened cereal, bread or eggs performed better on memory tests in the morning than they did after eating sugary, high-glycemic fare such as sweetened cereals or doughnuts.

• Think outside the cereal box. Cheese, whole-grain crackers and fruit provide a good breakfast. So do smoothies made with nonfat yogurt and fruit. Or slather peanut butter on a slice of whole-grain bread, top with banana slices and drink a glass of skim milk or low-fat soy milk for a nutritionally complete breakfast.

• Eat breakfast to keep your waistline whittled. Breakfast doesn't necessarily help with weight loss, but it appears to be important for long-term weight maintenance. Successful losers — members of the National Weight Control Registry — report that breakfast is a meal they rarely miss. (The registry has several thousand registrants, who, on the average, have lost about 60 pounds and kept it off for roughly five years.) Researchers say eating breakfast may help control appetite for the day.