Teens and adolescents who eat breakfast every day are less likely to become overweight or obese in the near future and they typically lead a more active, healthier lifestyle than their peers who skip breakfast, according to the latest research published by Project EAT.
Researchers followed the dietary habits and lifestyles of 2,200 adolescents for five years to identify any possible link between body weight change and breakfast. The study was conducted by the University of Minnesota School of Public Health’s Project Eating Among Teens (EAT).
In the last twenty years, obesity in children has doubled and tripled for adolescents. Estimates are that as many as 12% to 24% of children and adolescents skip breakfast on a regular basis.
Skipping breakfast and other unhealthy weight-control choices are frequently made in 57% of the female adolescent population and 33% of the males. The number of breakfasts skipped increases at an alarming rate as children grow up.
The Project EAT study, titled “Breakfast Eating and Weight Change in a 5-Year Prospective Analysis of Adolescents: Project EAT,” started five years ago when study participants were adolescents. Now in their teens, those who ate breakfast daily are thinner and have a lower body mass index (BMI) than those that frequently skipped breakfast. BMI is a measurement used to determine risk of obesity.
Many people, including teens, think skipping breakfast is an effective way to limit calories but the opposite is actually true, according to Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, PhD, Project EAT’s principal investigator. Skipping breakfast leads to overeating later in the day, especially in the evenings.
Full details of the Project EAT study are to be published in the March issue of the journal, Pediatrics, the official publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Source: University of Minnesota
- How important is breakfast in your lifestyle?
I love breakfast, but only on the weekends, I have no time to eat anything sensible during the week
But are these findings causal or just a correlation? Are teens who eat breakfast thinner, healthier, and less likely to be obese or are teens that are thinner, healthier and less likely to be obese eat breakfast?
causal – those who skip breakfast, eat snacks later
I hate studies, they really don’t mean anything, and most probably in the next few months there will be another study which will say – teens who eat breakfast are more likely to die b/c they fall asleep during gym class and get hit in the head
Anyone remember those coffee trials, one month it increases your pressure, the next month it’s good for you, then it gives you bad breath… just eat sensibly and you’re gonna be ok – just my 2 cents
Breakfast is good. I skipped breakfast in almost my whole teenage and I was underweight. But as I started doing breakfast my health and lifestyle is quite good. One should do breakfast within 40 min after awaking.
Which cereal manufacturer paid for this study? Breakfast was virtually unheard of in hunting/gathering societies. Who was overweight? Your stomach doesn’t even “wake up” until noon. “Kellog’s best to you” is best for them. Pure sugar and carbohydrates. High blood sugar then a crash… eat and repeat. Only in the USA do we fall for this hype … the most overweight of the industrialized nations.
i agree with mary on this one. this study likely sponsored by general mills
I like the cereal conspiracy idea, b/c it’s funny BUT you gotta remember that breakfast is not necessarily cereal (even though it is healthy), it could be eggs, some sausage, cold cuts, vegetables or cheese. breakfast is important b/c it provides energy for your body for a better part of the day, as opposed to eating dinner at 7 pm and going to sleep at 10 pm. If you do that. these calories won’t get burned when you’re asleep and will turn into fat
Mary and James I have to disagree. They don’t mention anywhere that you have to eat coco-puffs or sugar blasting high fructose pops. they are just saying that you should eat some kind of relatively healthy breakfast early to “wake up” your stomach. Your stomach wakes up when it is time to digest something and there for if you start early you have more time for your metabolism to work and get ready to digest later in the day. By eating some calories early you burn more later on. Its not hype either, this isn’t the first time there has been research on the topic, it’s not a breakthrough or anything. Oh and hunter/gathering societies ate when they were hungry IF there was food. Besides they were much more active and didn’t eat 1/4 Pounders with Cheese like we do today, so there can be little comparison found there in overall health there.
I eat breakfast everyday. I seriously hear people don’t have time for breakfast, I really don’t know how they function without it, don’t you get hungry after an hour or two after waking if you don’t eat? Just wake up an extra 10 minutes early and have a bowl of cereal, a banana, a glass or orange juice, a bagle, a muffin, anything! Breakfast food is the best food
These findings may be new, however the knowledge of breakfast being the most important meal of the day is not new. It has long been known by fitness coaches, trainers, nutritionists who know their stuff that if you don’t eat breakfast your body goes into starvation mode – seeing how you haven’t likely eaten anything for approximately 8 hours & optimum meal spacing is approx. 2 hours – your body thus prepares to turn your next meal or two to FAT as a means of staving off future chance of starvation. Contrary to what most people realize, fat is our bodies most efficient fuel source, it is a very dense fuel which is why it burns really slowly. NOW, in the meantime – for those who skip breakfast – your body still needs fuel to run your activities so without breakfast food to burn, and the fact that your body is in fat conservation mode (i.e. not burning fat), your body starts burning up the only readily available fuel source: your muscle. Thus for those who routinely skip breakfast and then complain that they cannot seem to get ahead at the gym or seem tired all the time – start eating a healthy breakfast of protein and veggies and see both your energy and muscle building progress soar!
Come on everybody this is just too silly. Some teens can get fat, others can’t. It’s genetic. The ones who gain weight easily are the very ones trying to limit calories, so they skip breakfast. I wish the cereal conspiracy were true, my bet is it’s a PhD making a name for herself by doing bad science. The fact that an article about adolescents is published in the journal Pediatrics is peculiar also. The nutritional needs of children are clearly different than the needs of adults. Has medicine become a regime of sorts? Nowhere in these articles does it ever mention other possible explanations (of which there are dozens). They just hand down the wisdom to us… kinda similar to global warming…EAT……………BREAKFAST……….EAT……..TASTY…..BREAKFAST……. ….TASTY…..DELICIOUS………BRAINS!
Breakfast is wonderful and everyone should eat it. However, the problem for most teens isn’t the assumption that they may gain weight from breakfast, it is because High-schools start incredibly early. Students barely have time to get ready in the morning, let alone eat breakfast.
Let me put it this way. Suppose I’m fat and I’m really upset about it. I wake up and I’m not particularly hungry. This says I’m supposed to cram a bunch of cereal and muffin and banana down my throat, that I don’t want, so that I will be thinner? Seriously?
Granted, if you work out hard every day, you will drop pounds fast. And if you plan to do that, you should eat something first. But the cost is this: one day you may find yourself explaining all the virtues of breakfast to a bunch of people that already think breakfast is awesome.
Breakfast is lame. It’s being phased out. Which is precisely why these alarm bells are going off more and more. Do you think everyone would talk about how awesome breakfast is if people generally ate breakfast?
An interesting study would be to find out if people that eat breakfast already are the only ones that buy into this dribble.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. haven’t we been told that our whole lives? your metabolism doesn’t start until you eat something!
High school is painfully early thats true. But many (or most) breakfast foods are instant, so I still don’t buy it. I am sticking to my breakfast is lame theory
I am tickled to be officially flaming the concept of breakfast. But seriously, nobody will join me in my crusade against it?
seems crazy to me that so much is being wasted on this…nothing is said about what was consumed for breakfast during this ‘study’. What if it was nothing but chocolate cake?
I’m not even sure I can support lunch now that I think about it. I enjoy my food so much more when I am genuinely hungry. Food shouldn’t be seen as fuel. It’s more like sex. Dolling out calories with clinical precision throughout the day is just so bland. Isn’t it far more pleasurable to get really, really hungry then go and eat your favorite food? It’s arguably the best feeling there is.
most of those pop tarts varieties are basically chocolate cake
This kind of science is such a joke anyway. Are there enough people that care to even do a peer review?
hi i dont think it’s true , i think it applies to afew people who are underweight
right on mercy
Who says you have to eat sugar cereal for breakfast? You either making healthy choices or you don’t. What about fruit, smoothies made with honey and fruit, multigrain bread with eggs and veggies?? I think it is strange that so many people on here think that breakfast=low quality sugar cereal. Breakfast is good, it is a good idea to get your metabolism going as soon as possible and eat lots of stuff early on so that not only do you have time to burn it off, but so that your body is not hungry at night when you don’t have time to burn off the calories and end up putting on fat.
RED ALERT – You guys really need to check out the wiki page on breakfast. Scary, scary, stuff. It straight-up asserts that breakfast *is* the most important meal of the day, and goes on and on for many hundreds of words without any citations at all. Utter propaganda. Nobody cares enough to challenge this blatant thought control apparently. This is 1984 people, right here and now. How long are we going to stand around and let our children be brainwashed into thinking breakfast is the most important meal of the day? We must rise up against our oppressors and stake our fortunes on other meals and whole other formats for enjoyment and freedom of expression. The time is now. Vote for change. Vote for Obama.
Breakfast is my favorit meal and today I never skip it! The problem with these “research” claims that make it to the press are the lack of details behind the so called “study”.
A majority of my grand parents and great grand parents ate hearty breakfasts of oates, eggs, yogurt, real butter, fruit, real bacon all (with the exception of one grandparent) lived into their late 80′s and mid 90′s with active lives. The one grandpa that died at 67 usually skipped his breakfast or ate way to much flour and sugar, loads of caffene, and processed junk foods. He was a heavy man and developed diabetes and heat failure in his mid 50′s. For over 20 years I bought into the non-fat/low fat myth, stayed away from real fats such as raw organic butter, coconut oil, lard, and quality meats and continued to gain weight. Four years ago at the age of 45 and pushing 300Lbs I got sick and tired of being sick and tired and stopped eating flour and sugar and processed junk. I lost 100 pounds in 10 months and have kept it all off for over three years. My blood sugar is now normal and no more blood pressure pills. I eat a hearty breakfast of whole oates or spelt and other cooked whole grains with real raw butter, local produced free range eggs (poached or fried in coconut oil) or full fat plain yogurt and fruit every day. I basically went back to eating the way my grandaparents ate: Healthy fresh real food…the kind you find in the produce/meat/poultry/fish sections of the market and foods fermented or canned with mnimal prcessing. Non of this non-fat or low fat over processed chemical junk food for me…those days are done. If you want to learn how to really eat and live well check out the Weston A Price Foundation at http://www.westonaprice.org My wife and I eat the same wholesome real foods and she lost 80 pounds and has stablized her weight going on 4 year too not to mention the increased increased health. We lost and maintain our weight without going wacko with excessive compulsive exorcise…moderate walks, hikes, skiing, fishing, bikeing activities. Start the day right eat a wholsome bowl of cooked oatmeal, a couple of eggs, and a piece of friut!!!!
That’s the idea Mikey! The people on against breakfast are just rebelous teenagers. You can ignore the sience but one day it’ll nip ya
I am not satisfied with the research they did. They should presented the food they ate, their lifestyle, environment, and their diet during breakfast, etc. The data’s they presented were just merely surveyed and observed
Also, no valid reasons were presented why those skip breakfast become obese… and those eat breakfast become thinner.
Anyway this is only my opinion but still I am not satisfied with their findings.
Chris is right on about not being satisfied with the research. I question all food and diet related research and the press that is generated. Who sponsored the research? What do they have to $$$ gain? Who really benifits from the information?
My breakfast this morning: 1.5 cups of organic oatmeal (soaked overnight with a tea spoon of yogurt like grandma used to do), table spoon of raw organic butter- in the oats, a shake of real sea salt, a cup of whole fat yogurt poured over an organic fugi apple. This helped fuel my getting up this morning an shoveling 6″ of driveway snow.
I remember the bad press on saturated animal fats, eggs, and butter received back in the 70′s and 80′s and bought into it hook line and sinker and excellerated my weight gain and health decline…what a load crap! Up til then the processed food industry had been using safe and stable coconut and palm kernal oil for years…then the american vegitable oil companies launched a multimillion dollar lipid (fat) research reseach and advertising campain to sway the medical and american public to hydroginated and processed vegi oil that wen stored and heated for cooking turns rancid and carcinogenic. So for years we all ate rancid oils that are chemically processed to taste good. Canola oil is the biggest croc of BS there is. There is no such thing as a canola plant…this is another cheap processed oil the industry has duped the american public and food industry into using as a “safer and healthier” oil…
alreadi knew that
“Come on everybody this is just too silly. Some teens can get fat, others can’t. It’s genetic.”
If it’s all genetic, why would teen obesity rates be increasing? It seems there must be at least *some* obese children of non-obese parents, so genes can’t be fully responsible here.
Re: Mary #5
” Breakfast was virtually unheard of in hunting/gathering societies. Who was overweight? ”
Even if it’s true that hunting/gathering societies did not eat breakfast, chances are, they exercised 20X more than the average American does today. I wonder why they weren’t over weight….
Everything in moderation.
Chinese medicine has an interesting take on breakfast and weight control. Check out ‘Prevention Better – 12 Nearly Forgotten Secrets’ by Robert Parry.
Chris, did you even read the article? They gave the reason not eating breakfast makes you fatter, people who don’t eat breakfast end up eating more later in the day to make up for it, often time by snacky junk foods. Reading comprehension for the win!
i am on here for a project . i have a question isskipping breakfast decreasing?
why can’t i print it !!! Who would copyriht it!!!!AHHHH!!!
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Bad breath or halitosis can be easily elimated by using mouthwash with hexetidine or triclosan.`~’
breakfast foods should always be high in protein and also in carbohydrates, we need food energy during the early morning .;~
on behalf of seniors and also their medical practitioners, the AMA might be urging Congress to do something before a Medicare disaster begins with December 1. Congressional phase this four weeks is techniques to discontinue the treatment cut. Congress really ought to keep medicare health insurance strong for the senior affected individuals and make sure that baby boomers will gain access to physicians once they begin benefiting from their treatment cards for the first time this economy is shown.
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