The Quality of Breakfast and Healthy Diet in School-aged Adolescents and Their Association with BMI, Weight Loss Diets and the Practice of Physical Activity

Abstract

Dietary habits are an important factor in the protection of adolescent health. The quality and frequency of breakfast and the various food groups can affect the wellbeing of this population group in both the short and long term. Research indicates that there is a range of relevant variables in the study of diet at this stage: following a weight loss diet, body mass index and the practice of physical exercise, amongst others. In this paper, all three variables are analysed, together with others of a demographic nature (sex and age). This is a descriptive cross-sectional survey that was carried out on 1318 adolescents aged 11 to 18. The Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) international study questionnaire, sponsored by the World Health Organisation, was used. In general terms, the data revealed that the majority of adolescents do not have adequate eating patterns. The quality and frequency of breakfast and the consumption of food types are associated with almost all the variables under study; additionally, there are significant differences by sex and school year. Finally, proposals are made to prevent eating disorders, which are appearing at an increasingly young age.

Breakfast Habits of a Representative Sample of the Spanish Child and Adolescent Population (The ENALIA Study): Association with Diet Quality

“…And finally, the design, protocol and methodology of the ENALIA study were made in accordance with the recommendations of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) "EU Menu" guidance recommendations [43,44]. The sample studied presents anthropometric data similar to those of other Spanish children of the same age [1, 6,21,22,31,32,36,37]. As far as misreporting is concerned, our results coincide with those of Coulthard et al [2] which indicated that under-reporting may have been more prevalent for the children in the 11-18 years age group, who provided their own food consumption, in contrast to children in the younger age group, whose diaries were completed by their parents or caregivers.…”

“…Similarly, the ANIBES (“anthropometric data, macronutrients and micronutrients intake, practice of physical activity, socioeconomic data and lifestyles in Spain”) study defined breakfast as the first intake declared by the participant after overnight sleeping, and found that 93.4% of children aged 9–12 years and 80.1% of children aged 13–17 years reported breakfast on a regular basis, while 6.6% and 19.9% of children aged 9–12 and 13–17, respectively, reported having breakfast irregularly or not having breakfast [ 23 , 37 ]. Guevara et al [ 21 ] evaluated the quality of the breakfast of a group of Spanish adolescents (11–18 years old) based on the weekly frequency with which a “full breakfast” was consumed (when in addition to a glass of milk or a piece of fruit, the respondent eats something else), and observed that 24.5% of adolescents had a poor breakfast (skipping it two or more days a week), and it was more frequent as adolescents are older. Finally, in the ALADINO (“Alimentación, Actividad Física, Desarrollo Infantil y Obesidad”) study (carried out in a representative sample of the Spanish school population aged 6 to 9 years) 68,3% of families indicated that their children ate more than a drink (milk, juice, infusions, …) for breakfast every day and only 2.2% indicate that children never eat breakfast [ 22 ].…”

“…Despite the physical and mental benefits associated with eating breakfast, several representative national surveys in Europe and North America have shown that skipping breakfast is quite common [ 5 , 7 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Several authors have pointed out that between 10–30% of children skip breakfast [ 5 , 17 ]; a trend that increases in adolescence, especially in girls [ 15 , 18 , 20 , 21 ]. But much higher is the percentage of children who develop an inadequate/unbalanced breakfast pattern, considering the calories provided and the foods included in this meal [ 7 , 14 , 22 , 23 ].…”

Dietary Pattern in Junior High School Students: Literature Review

“…The eight selected study articles were published between 2015 and 2020. There were four articles whose research was conducted in Asia [17][18][19][20]; two articles on Europe [11,13]; one article on North America [18]; and one other article from Africa [19]; which have been shown in Table 1.…”

“…The articles synthesized in this literature review have an intervention setting in schools with a study sample of 13-15 years of age [11,19,20,22]; 13-14 years [13,18], 14 years [15]; and 14-15 years [18]. The sample size for these articles ranged from 79 to 4220 children [11,13,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. These data are presented in a journal collection in Table 2.…”