U of M finds teens who eat breakfast daily eat healthier diets than those who skip breakfast

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Public release date: 3-Mar-2008

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/uom-uom022908.php

Contact: Jenna Langer

lang0712@...

University of Minnesota

U of M finds teens who eat breakfast daily eat healthier diets than

those who skip breakfast

University of Minnesota School of Public Health Project Eating Among

Teens (EAT) researchers have found further evidence to support the

importance of encouraging youth to eat breakfast regularly. Researchers

examined the association between breakfast frequency and five-year body

weight change in more than 2,200 adolescents, and the results indicate

that daily breakfast eaters consumed a healthier diet and were more

physically active than breakfast skippers during adolescence. Five years

later, the daily breakfast eaters also tended to gain less weight and

have lower body mass index levels – an indicator of obesity risk –

compared with those who had skipped breakfast as adolescents.

Mark Pereira, Ph.D., corresponding author on the study, points out that

this study extends the literature on the topic of breakfast habits and

obesity risk because of the size and duration of the study. “The

dose-response findings between breakfast frequency and obesity risk,

even after taking into account physical activity and other dietary

factors, suggests that eating breakfast may have important effects on

overall diet and obesity risk, but experimental studies are needed to

confirm these observations,” he added.

Over the past two decades, rates of obesity have doubled in children and

nearly tripled in adolescents. Fifty-seven percent of adolescent females

and 33 percent of males frequently use unhealthy weight-control

behaviors, and it is estimated that between 12 and 24 percent of

children and adolescents regularly skip breakfast. This percentage of

breakfast skippers, while alarming, has been found to increase with age.

Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., principal investigator of Project EAT,

says that this research confirms the importance of teaching adolescents

to start the day off ‘right’ by eating breakfast. “Although adolescents

may think that skipping breakfast seems like a good way to save on

calories, findings suggest the opposite. Eating a healthy breakfast may

help adolescents avoid overeating later in the day and disrupt unhealthy

eating patterns, such as not eating early in the day and eating a lot

late in the evening.”

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The study, “Breakfast Eating and Weight Change in a 5-Year Prospective

Analysis of Adolescents: Project EAT,” will be published in the March

edition of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of

Pediatrics.

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ne Holden, MS, RD

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