Breakfast intake and associated factors and barriers among tertiary institution students in the Western Region, Ghana

Abstract

Background Breakfast is considered the day’s most important meal. Skipping breakfast consumption is detrimental to health and intellectual performance. University life has tight schedules and rigorous intellectual activities often very early in the morning. This study aimed at assessing breakfast intake and its associated factors among the students of Takoradi Technical University (TTU). Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Data was collected from 347 students in TTU using pre-tested questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using STATA v17. It employed descriptive and inferential statistics such as logistic regression. P-value less than 0.05 was set as statistical significance at 95% confidence interval. Results Regular breakfast was taken by 35.7% of the students. Higher odds of regular breakfast intake were found among respondents aged 25–29 years (AOR = 3.13, 95%CI = 1.57–6.24) and those who buy their breakfast (AOR = 5.13, 95%CI = 2.16–12.19). However, lower odds of regular breakfast consumption were found among respondents who were females (AOR = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.18–0.85). Barriers to regular breakfast intake included negative mood, insufficient funds, health condition, weight management, religious reasons such as fasting, limited time/unfavourable academic schedules, daily activities/workload, and cost of food on campus. Conclusion The study stressed on the need for external and personal factors such as sex, age, religion, limited time/unfavourable academic schedules among others that hinder habitual breakfast intake to be addressed adopting innovative approach such as peer education and campaigns. University management should implement favourable policies on academic schedules, canteens/cafeterias, less stringent regulation on cooking at halls of residence.

Trends in Health-Risk Behaviors and Psychological Distress among Australian First-Year University Students

“…Students were more likely to consume breakfast daily in 2016, with a decrease of 11% by 2020. Research has previously identified potential barriers to students consuming regular breakfast, including financial insecurity, negative mood, health conditions, limited cooking facilities, weight control, and poor time management skills [29][30][31]. Whilst these barriers exist, the current study only identified the trend that students consume breakfast less than previously, and we did not explore the potential contributing factors concerning why this may be occurring among this population group or worsen over time.…”

Systematic Review of PubMed Articles Prior to 2023 on Effects of Breakfast on School Performance

“…This leads to missing breakfast and thus unable to meet nutritional needs. In the long run, it is proven that it will lead to students being inactive in class, poor concentration and poor memory [29]. An interesting finding from this same study is female students are more likely to have regular breakfast as compared to males, who are more likely to skip breakfast [35].…”

“…In the western region, students who take regular breakfast have better memory, activeness, performance and ability to meet the required nutrient value for their academics. If students become malnourished, they may perform badly in class due to their poor nutritional status leading to poor activeness, memory and general performance in the morning [29]. Based on the study, approximately 36%…”

“…This is significantly lower than similar studies and the following reasons are concluded, Firstly is the busy academic environment that the students are in. Another possible factor is the limited access to the different eatery joints available to students [29]. Other personal factors such as financial status and family background will also influence their choices of having breakfast.…”

“…It is mentioned above that skipping breakfast would cause an effect on students' nutritional status, which may cause the occurrence of nutrition-related disease and poor school performance, which can include attendance, academic and concentration in students of all ages [29,51,53,64,72]. One possible reason could be due to the long hours of fasting, the brain has not received the energy or glucose to move on thus making some tasks feel harder than normal.…”