Breakfast Habits, Nutritional Status, Body Weight, and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents.
From: Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, SW 23rd Drive, FETL Building 685, Gainesville, FL 32611-0720, USA. gcr@ifas.ufl.edu
Journal of the American Dietetic Association
- Publish Date: May 2005
- ISSN: 0002-8223
- Volume: 105
- Issue: 5
- Pages: 743-60; quiz 761-2
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Rampersaud Gail C, Pereira Mark A, Girard Beverly L, et al. Breakfast Habits, Nutritional Status, Body Weight, and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents.. May 2005;105:743-60; quiz 761-2
Abstract
Breakfast has been labeled the most important meal of the day, but are there data to support this claim? We summarized the results of 47 studies examining the association of breakfast consumption with nutritional adequacy (nine studies), body weight (16 studies), and academic performance (22 studies) in children and adolescents. Breakfast skipping is highly prevalent in the United States and Europe (10% to 30%), depending on age group, population, and definition. Although the quality of breakfast was variable within and between studies, children who reported eating breakfast on a consistent basis tended to have superior nutritional profiles than their breakfast-skipping peers. Breakfast eaters generally consumed more daily calories yet were less likely to be overweight, although not all studies associated breakfast skipping with overweight. Evidence suggests that breakfast consumption may improve cognitive function related to memory, test grades, and school attendance. Breakfast as part of a healthful diet and lifestyle can positively impact children’s health and well-being. Parents should be encouraged to provide breakfast for their children or explore the availability of a school breakfast program. We advocate consumption of a healthful breakfast on a daily basis consisting of a variety of foods, especially high-fiber and nutrient-rich whole grains, fruits, and dairy products.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Achievement, Adolescent, Body Weight, Child, Cognition, Energy Intake, Female, Food Habits, Humans, Male, Nutritional Status, Obesity, Weight Gain
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 15883552
This abstract is part of PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. PubMed includes more than 17 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles. See Copyright and Disclaimers.
Linked medical terms appearing on this page are added by Healia to help readers find more information and are not part of the original PubMed document.
The data herein was last updated on July 8th, 2008 and may not reflect the most current and accurate data available from NLM.