HOUSTON—Children and adolescents who start their day off with ready-to-eat cereals (RTE) have better nutrient profiles than those who skip breakfast or eat other types of breakfast, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
Researchers analyzed data from nearly 10,000 children and adolescents aged 9 to 18 who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2006. They examined the relationship between breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumed with nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, and adiposity status.
Twenty percent of children and 31.5% of adolescents were breakfast skippers; 35.9% of children and 25.4% of adolescents consumed RTE cereal. In children/adolescents, RTE cereal consumers had lower intakes of total fat and cholesterol and higher intakes of total carbohydrate, dietary fiber and several micronutrients (P<0.05 for all) than breakfast skippers and other breakfast consumers. RTE cereal consumers had the highest mean adequacy ratio (MAR) for micronutrients, and MAR was the lowest for breakfast skippers (P<0.05). In children/adolescents, breakfast skippers had higher body mass index-for-age z scores (P<0.05) and a higher waist circumference (P<0.05) than RTE cereal and other breakfast consumers. Prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥95th percentile) was higher in breakfast skippers than RTE cereal consumers (P<0.05) in children/adolescents and was higher in other breakfast consumers than RTE cereal consumers only in adolescents (P<0.05).
