Impact of Skipping Breakfast on Nutrient Intake

Study Overview

A recent study highlights the potential nutritional deficiencies associated with regularly missing breakfast. Breakfast foods, particularly cereals and dairy products, are often fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. Skipping breakfast can lead to missing out on these critical nutrients entirely.

Comparing Nutrient Intakes

Researchers aimed to investigate the differences in total nutrient intake between adults who consume breakfast and those who do not. The study analyzed data from over 30,000 adults who self-reported their dietary intake over a 24-hour period. Based on this information, the participants were categorized based on their breakfast habits.

The findings indicated that individuals who skipped breakfast tended to consume higher amounts of energy, carbohydrates, fats, and sugars throughout the day compared to those who had breakfast. More importantly, these individuals were less likely to meet the minimum recommended intakes for vital nutrients such as folate, calcium, iron, vitamins A, B, C, and D.

Consequences of Missing Breakfast

Even with the consumption of other meals, the intake of these essential vitamins and minerals remained insufficient for those who skipped breakfast. The researchers noted, “What we’re seeing is that if you don’t eat the foods that are commonly consumed at breakfast, you have a tendency not to eat them the rest of the day. So those common breakfast nutrients become a nutritional gap.”

Furthermore, the study revealed that individuals who missed breakfast had a lower quality diet compared to their breakfast-eating counterparts. This may be attributed to their snacking habits, as explained by researcher Taylor: “Snacking is basically contributing a meal’s worth of calorie intakes for people who skipped breakfast. People who ate breakfast consumed more total calories than those who did not, but the lunch, dinner, and snacks were much larger for breakfast skippers and tended to be of a lower diet quality.”

References

Fanelli, S., Walls, C., & Taylor, C. (2021). Skipping breakfast is associated with nutrient gaps and poorer diet quality among adults in the United States. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 80(OCE1), E48. doi:10.1017/S0029665121000495

News release: Those breakfast foods are fortified for a reason. Available at: https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/osu-tbf061421.php

Image by Pexels from Pixabay