A new study reports that the more often adolescents eat breakfast, the less likely they are to be overweight.
The researchers examined the eating and exercise habits of 1,007 boys and 1,215 girls, with an average age of 15 at the start of the five-year study - a racially and economically diverse sample from public schools in the Minneapolis-St Paul area.
The authors found a direct relationship between eating breakfast and body mass index (BMI); the more often an adolescent had breakfast, the lower the BMI.
Why eating breakfast should lead to fewer unwanted pounds is unclear, but the study found that breakfast eaters consumed greater amounts of carbohydrates and fibre, got fewer calories from fat and exercised more. Consumption of fibre-rich foods may improve glucose and insulin levels, making people feel satisfied and less likely to eat more later in the day.
For the study, the researchers recorded food intake using a well-established food frequency questionnaire and added specific questions about how often the teenagers ate breakfast.
They also included questions to determine the behavioural and social forces that might affect eating. For example, they asked whether the teenagers were concerned about their weight, whether they skipped meals to lose weight, whether they had ever been teased about their weight and how often they had dieted during the last year. They were also asked how much exercise they were getting.
At the start of the study, consistent breakfast eaters had an average BMI of 21.7, intermittent eaters 22.5, and those who never had breakfast 23.4. Over the next five years, BMI increased in exactly the same pattern. The relationship persisted even after controlling for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, smoking and concerns about diet and weight.
The authors acknowledge that the study depends on self-reports of weight and eating habits, which are not always reliable.
Still, Mark A Pereira, a co-author of the study, said that eating a healthy breakfast would "promote healthy eating throughout the day." He added that parents could set a good example by sitting down to breakfast themselves.
