Comment on Xian et al. Breakfast Frequency and Sleep Quality in College Students: The Multiple Mediating Effects of Sleep Chronotypes and Depressive Symptoms. Nutrients 2023, 15, 2678

Abstract

This is a commentary on an article by Xian and colleagues (2023), in which I basically argue that it is impossible that the frequency of eating breakfast in the past week could somehow affect sleep quality in the past month, which is what the authors clearly state in their article. The commentary was rejected by the journal Nutrients with the following evaluation by the editor: "It is my assessment that your critique points out limitations that are already discussed by the authors. The study design was cross-sectional and cannot assess causal relationships. Furthermore, you provide critique of perfectly acceptable and validated measures with a reiteration of the inability to prove causal associations based on timeframe. Thus, I don't find your commentary compelling enough to offer new information beyond the limitations already mentioned by the authors of the paper." Oh well...