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Longitudinal study of skipping breakfast and weight change in adolescents

International Journal of Obesity volume 27, pages 1258–1266 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several cross-sectional studies reported that heavier children eat breakfast less often. However, no longitudinal studies have addressed whether skipping breakfast leads to excessive weight gain.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether skipping breakfast was prospectively associated with changes in body fatness.

METHODS: A cohort of >14?000 boys and girls from all over the US, 9- to 14-y-old in 1996, returned annual mailed questionnaires (1996–1999) for the Growing Up Today Study. We analyzed change in body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) over three 1-y periods among children who reported breakfast frequency.

RESULTS: Children who reported that they never eat breakfast had lower energy intakes than those who eat breakfast nearly every day. Children who were more physically active reported higher energy intakes, as did those who reported more time watching television/videos and playing videogames. Like previous studies, skipping breakfast was associated with overweight, cross-sectionally. However, overweight children who never ate breakfast lost BMI over the following year compared to overweight children who ate breakfast nearly every day (boys: −0.66?kg/m2 (s.e.=0.22); girls: −0.50?kg/m2 (s.e.=0.14)). But normal weight children who never ate breakfast gained weight relative to peers who ate breakfast nearly every day (boys: +0.21?kg/m2 (s.e.=0.13); girls: +0.08?kg/m2 (s.e.=0.05)). Breakfast frequency was positively correlated with self-reported quality of schoolwork.

CONCLUSIONS: Overweight children who never eat breakfast may lose body fat, but normal weight children do not. Since numerous studies link skipping breakfast to poorer academics, children should be encouraged to eat breakfast.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Karen Corsano, Gary Chase, Gideon Aweh, and our other colleagues in the Growing Up Today Study Research Group. We are especially grateful to the children (and their mothers) for careful completion of the questionnaires.Funded by Grant DK46834 from NIH, an SIPII grant from CDC, a grant from the Boston Obesity Nutrition Research Center (P30 DK46200), research grant, 43-3AEM-0-80074 from the Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, and in part by Kelloggs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    C S Berkey, H R H Rockett, A E Field & G A Colditz

  2. Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    M W Gillman

  3. Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, MA, USA

    M W Gillman

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    G A Colditz

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Correspondence to C S Berkey.

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Berkey, C., Rockett, H., Gillman, M. et al. Longitudinal study of skipping breakfast and weight change in adolescents. Int J Obes 27, 1258–1266 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802402

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