history at a glance
- Skipping breakfast or eating out is linked to a higher chance of behavioral problems, a new study suggests.
- Eating breakfast away from home had a similar negative effect as skipping lunch altogether.
- The study was published as millions return to classrooms in the US.
Where and what kids eat for breakfast, and not just whether they eat, has a tremendous effect on their behavioral health, according to a new study.
The first study of its kind published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition shows that skipping breakfast or eating out is linked to a higher likelihood of behavioral problems.
“Similarly, consumption of certain foods/beverages is associated with higher or lower odds of psychosocial behavioral problems,” study first author José Francisco López-Gil, from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, said in a statement. in Cuenca, Spain. Press release.
López-Gil and colleagues analyzed data from 3,772 Spanish residents between the ages of 4 and 14 who participated in the 2017 Spanish National Health Survey, which included questions about a child’s breakfast habits and their psychosocial health.
Their findings emphasized the importance of eating a healthy breakfast at home, as eating it away from home had a similar negative effect as skipping the meal altogether.
“The fact that eating breakfast outside the home is associated with greater psychosocial health problems is a novel aspect of our study,” López-Gil said. “Our findings reinforce the need to promote not only breakfast as part of a healthy lifestyle routine, but also that it should be eaten at home.”
The team also found that consuming “a breakfast that includes dairy and/or grains, and minimizing certain animal-based foods that are high in saturated fat/cholesterol, may help reduce psychosocial health problems in youth.”
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The study, published as millions return to classrooms in the US, adds to previous research measuring the effect of breakfast on school performance and behavior problems.
Breakfast is related to a series of positive results in the classroom, including improved memory, test scores, and attention spans.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that just over 82 percent of children have breakfast every day. And the percentage decreases with age, going from almost 96% among children between 2 and 5 years old to almost 73% between 12 and 19 years old.
Posted on August 23, 2022
