Breakfast habits and knowledge: Study involving participants from Brazil and Portugal

Abstract

Breakfast has been considered one of the most important meals of the day. While breakfast habits and their consequences on children’s health and performance are well documented, studies on the adult population are still lacking. The aim of this study is to observe the breakfast consumption habits of Portuguese and Brazilian adults to understand the importance attributed to this meal, which leads people to have breakfast or to skip it, and also what types of food are consumed. To achieve these objectives, a questionnaire survey was carried out in both countries, and the data were collected through the internet. A convenience sample consisting of 694 participants (380 from Brazil and 314 from Portugal) were used in this study, all were adults who gave informed consent to participate in the research. The results showed that the majority of participants consumed breakfast every day (74.4% in Brazil and 78.3% in Portugal), and they did it at home (94.4 and 94.3% for Brazilians and Portuguese, respectively). The results also showed that the reasons for consuming breakfast and skipping it are very similar in both countries. People say they do not have breakfast because they do not want to eat in the morning or they do not have time. The reasons to always have breakfast include providing energy, satiety from night fasting, preventing hunger until lunch, because they like it, or simply because it is a habit. The level of knowledge was slightly higher among Portuguese than Brazilian participants and was found to vary according to the habits of having breakfast or skipping it and also according to country, sex, BMI class, and school level. In conclusion, breakfast habits were found to be very similar in both countries’, but the knowledge was higher among the Portuguese than the Brazilian participants. Breakfast is linked to a healthy lifestyle, and individuals’ behaviours and beliefs must be taken into account to promote health and well-being, thus diminishing the burden of noncommunicable diseases related to improper eating habits and dietary patterns.