Breakfast consumption and daily physical activity in 9–10-year-old British children

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between breakfast consumption and physical activity in a well-characterised sample of English children. Design: Cross-sectional study using food diaries to record breakfast consumption and accelerometry to assess physical activity. Setting: Norfolk county, England. Subjects: Children (n 1697) aged 9-10 years from the SPEEDY (Sport, Physical Activity and Eating behaviour: Environmental Determinants in Young people) study. Results: Boys who consumed a poor-quality breakfast based on dairy product, cereal and fruit intakes spent approximately 7 min more time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during weekday afternoons and evenings compared with those who did not consume breakfast (P , 0?05). On weekend days, boys who consumed a poor-or good-quality breakfast spent approximately 6 and 5 min less time respectively being sedentary during the mornings compared with breakfast nonconsumers (P , 0?05). Boys who consumed a good-quality breakfast spent almost 3 min more in MVPA during the morning on weekend days compared with nonconsumers, and boys who consumed a poor-or good-quality breakfast were 22 % and 16 % more active overall respectively than breakfast non-consumers (P , 0?05). During the rest of the day, boys who consumed a good-quality breakfast spent about 11 min less time being sedentary (P , 0?05) and 7 min more time in MVPA (P , 0?01). Conclusions: Although some associations between breakfast consumption and physical activity were detected for boys, the present study does not provide strong evidence that failing to consume breakfast, or having a low energy intake at breakfast time, is detrimental to children's physical activity levels. Keywords Breakfast consumption Physical activity Sedentary behaviours ChildrenRegular breakfast consumption has been found to be associated with improved overall diet, including greater micronutrient intakes and better diet quality, in school-aged children (1)(2)(3)(4) . For example, in Belgian 13-18-year-olds, higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, bread, milk, milk products and fruit juices have been associated with the consumption of a high-quality breakfast, while soft drinks intake has been shown to be significantly lower compared with consumers of a less nutritious breakfast (4) . Missing breakfast has also been associated with decreases in attention, memory and school performance (5,6) , all important factors in children's development. In addition, there are indications that breakfast patterns are linked to overweight and obesity (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) . It is of concern that a decline in breakfast consumption has been observed in recent years. For example, between 1965 and 1991, there is evidence of decreasing rates of breakfast consumption among American children. Declines were highest among older adolescents (15-18-year-olds), with daily consumption rates decreasing by 14?8 % and 19?7 % in boys and girls, respectively (9) . In a recent multicountry study, over 30 % of 11-15-year-old children did not eat breakfas...

Breakfast Consumption and Its Associations with Health-Related Behaviors among School-Aged Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zhejiang Province, China

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Is breakfast skipping associated with physical activity among US adolescents? A cross-sectional study of adolescents aged 12–19 years, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)

“…While some findings suggest sex is an effect modifier (34) , others do not (34,37) . While it is possible that the breakfast skipping-PA association differs for boys and girls, it is not likely that there is a biological explanation for this difference.…”

Cross‐sectional study showed that breakfast consumption was associated with demographic, clinical and biochemical factors in children and adolescents

“…In addition to a better overall quality of nutrition, studies suggest that the usual intake of breakfast is associated with a reduced risk of excess weight and reduced body mass index (BMI) in children and adolescents . This can mainly be attributed to the fact that children and adolescents who do not eat breakfast are less likely to have lunch and, or dinner regularly, tend to make poor food choices, consume unhealthy foods between meals, buy food outside home and be less physically active .…”