Breakfast consumption and meal frequency interaction with childhood obesity

Abstract

What is already known about this subject• Breakfast skipping has been positively associated with childhood obesity.• Frequent meal consumption has been inversely associated with obesity in childhood.• There is lack of evidence about the common effect of the aformentioned meal patterns in overweight or obese children.What this study adds• Consuming more than 3 meals per day was associated with a lower likelihood of overweight or obesity if-andonly-if breakfast was not skipped.• Having breakfast on a daily basis together with a full meal pattern could contribute in the prevention of childhood obesity. SummaryObjectives: Increased meal frequency and daily breakfast consumption have been inversely associated with childhood obesity. The purpose of the study was to examine the possible interaction effect between meal frequency and breakfast consumption on childhood obesity.Methods: Seven hundred children (323 boys) aged 10-12 years were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Several lifestyle, dietary and physical activity characteristics were recorded with food frequency and physical activity questionnaires. Body height and weight were measured and body mass index was calculated in order to classify children as overweight or obese (International Obesity Task Force classification). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used in order to evaluate the interaction between daily breakfast intake and more than three meals per day consumption with overweight or obesity.Reuslts: Of the children, 27.6% and 9.0% were overweight and obese, respectively. Moreover, 60.2%consumed three or more meals per day and 62.7% consumed breakfast in a regular daily basis. Children who consumed more than three meals per day and also consumed breakfast daily, were two times less likely to be overweight or obese (adjusted odds ratio: 0.49, 95% confidence interval: 0.27-0.88). Conclusion:A combined higher meal frequency and daily breakfast consumption dietary pattern may prevent overweight and obesity in children.

Cumulative Effect of Obesogenic Behaviours on Adiposity in Spanish Children and Adolescents

“…obesogenic behaviours, are highly prevalent in European countries [5,6,7,8,9]. The East of England Healthy Hearts study revealed that 36% of English children aged 10-15 years spent more than 2 h daily in screen time [7].…”

“…Two-thirds and four-fifths of European boys and girls, respectively, were engaged in less than 60 min/day of moderate to vigorous physical activity [29]. Skipping breakfast and low meal frequency were somewhat less prevalent [5,6]. …”

“…Most studies investigated the individual impact of these behaviours on obesity risk [5,6,10,11,12]. However, clustering of multiple obesity risk behaviours is well known in young populations [13].…”

“…Behaviours such as low physical activity, high screen time, skipping breakfast and low meal frequency are prevalent in young populations [5,6,7,8,9], and all of them have been linked to an increased risk of childhood obesity and therefore defined as obesogenic behaviours [5,6,10,11,12]. Most studies investigated the individual impact of these behaviours on obesity risk [5,6,10,11,12].…”

Associations between family eating behaviours and body composition measures in peri-adolescents: Results from a community-based study of school-aged children

“…4,5 Of all the potential determinants of diet and physical activity, factors within the home environment may play an especially important role. [6][7][8][9] Some home factors shown to be important determinants of the dietary and physical activity habits of children include parental modeling of healthful eating, [9][10][11][12][13][14] regularity of meals, [15][16][17] and parental participation in regular physical activity. 12,18 While a large number of studies have been conducted on the role of child eating behaviours and parental feeding practices on obesity risk in children [19][20][21] and a few studies have been conducted on the role of mothers' and fathers' own eating behaviours, 22,23 to our knowledge, no studies have simultaneously assessed the role of child, mother and father eating behaviours -something that is necessary to understand the relative impacts of these behaviours.…”