Don't Let Your Children Skip Breakfast

Main Category: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 31 Jan 2006 - 10:00 PDT


The prevalence of obesity in the U.S. is affecting all ages, both sexes, all ethnic groups and all socioeconomic levels. In general, children are overfed, but undernourished and those who skip breakfast tend to eat more snacks and consume more fat. Studies indicate that 59% of high school students skip breakfast at least three times a week, and one in three girls skip breakfast daily.

"To go eight hours or so, or in the case of some teenagers, longer, without food, I think it's important to recognize that you've got to get those energy stores back up and running right away," said Robert Murray, MD, of Columbus Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. Murray presented on the importance of breakfast at last month's American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition.

"Breakfast-skippers" are two times more likely to be overweight and they give a variety of reasons for not eating in the morning, including lack of time and/or hunger and "dieting to lose weight." Experts believe lack of exercise and smoking are also often linked to these reasons. Research shows that nearly all individuals who successfully maintain a weight loss eat breakfast daily. Studies in children and adolescents indicate an association between regular breakfast consumption and lower body mass index. Ironically, breakfast eaters consume more energy per day, yet are less likely to be overweight.

Even periodic, persistent food insufficiency is tied to objective meaures of psychosocial and academic dysfunction. In a study involving six to 11-year-olds from food-insufficient families, the participants were found to have lower arithmetic scores and were more likely to have repeated a grade. Children with poor nutrition during the brain's formative years score lower on tests of vocabulary, reading, arithmetic and general knowledge. Student intelligence and academic performance are affected even in students with malnutrition too slight to manifest in clinical symptoms. Alarmingly, even healthy, well-nourished children who skip breakfast or lunch are less able to distinguish between similar images, have slower memory recall and commit more errors.

Breakfast consumption improves alertness and mood, word recall, short term and spatial memory, and lessens anxiety and irritability. Some studies have even shown that psychosocial function improves as breakfast consumption increases, not to mention improved nutritional status. Studies consistently connect breakfast to improvements in academics, test scores, grades, and less school tardiness and absenteeism.

http://www.columbuschildrens.com

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