According to Gail Rampersaud, a registered dietician at the University of Florida and lead author of the ADA Journal article, studies on breakfast and behavior date back to the 1930s, with a focus on school performance first emerging in the 1950s and becoming more systematic in the 1970s. Breakfast has always been a convenient meal to study; since it's eaten on an empty stomach, there's not much else rumbling around to confuse the data. Many school-health curricula include a slot for nutrition, so research findings on food and breakfast easily find an outlet. By contrast, schools don't devote much time to discussing sleep. Critics also point out the food industry, especially Kellogg's, has funded many studies on the merits of breakfast.