Human Environments Analysis Lab (HEAL)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 12-23-2022
URL with Digital Object Identifier
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cdnut.2022.100003
Abstract
Background
Breakfast skipping has previously been associated with worse diet quality among adolescents; the latter increases the risk of chronic disease. However, many studies do not consider diet quality as a function of calories, which is problematic as skippers tend to consume less energy than consumers. Additionally, due to the lack of one accepted definition of both breakfast skipping and diet quality, it is unclear how differences found may change when using varying definitions.
Objectives
We aimed to compare the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) scores and nutrient intakes of teen breakfast skippers and consumers in Southwestern Ontario, Canada.
Methods
Cross-sectional, baseline data were used from SmartAPPetite, an ongoing nutrition intervention study. Singular 24-h dietary recalls and sociodemographic data from 512 adolescents aged 13–19 y were used to compare HEI-2015 scores and nutrient intakes via multivariable linear regression.
Results
Previous day breakfast skippers had significantly lower HEI-2015 scores (−4.4; 95% CI: −8.4, −0.4) and significantly lower intakes of calories, saturated fat, and vitamin C, as well as significantly higher intake of sodium and total fat.
Conclusions
Previous day breakfast consumers had significantly higher diet quality scores and better nutrient intakes than breakfast skippers, although, on average, both had poor diet quality. Consequently, it is unlikely that simply advising teens to consume breakfast will result in meaningful change in diet quality, and more effort should be placed on promoting nutritious breakfasts.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
