SCHOOL BREAKFAST: IMPROVING STUDENTS’ MINDS & BODIES
Volume 79, Number 2 March/April 2008
Introduction
Breakfast is given the well-deserved title as the most important meal of the day (1-3). Research has found that consuming a nutritious breakfast is associated with increased nutrient intake, improved cognition and academic performance, and a healthy body weight (1-4). In addition, regular breakfast consumption in the early years may help establish life-long healthful habits (1-3). This is important considering that unhealthy eating habits (e.g., low consumption of dairy foods and high intake of low-nutrient density foods) have been linked to poor school performance in students (5).
Unfortunately, many children and adolescents do not eat a nutritious breakfast every morning (1-4,6-10). Breakfast consumption by children and adolescents has declined over the years (1,7). Moreover, skipping breakfast increases with age and may be more common among certain minority or low socioeconomic groups (1,6-8). According to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2002, breakfast consumption declined from 95% for two to five year olds, to 87% for children ages 6 to 11, to 70% for those 12 to 19 years of age (8). African American girls are more likely to skip breakfast than white girls, although this racial difference decreases with increasing age (6).
The federally-supported School Breakfast Program has grown over the years and currently serves more than 10 million children. However, this program continues to be underutilized.
Reasons for skipping breakfast include families’ economic constraints, insufficient time in the morning, lack of hunger, and unhealthy weight management strategies (1,3,4,9,10). Millions of families in the U.S. cannot afford to provide their children with healthful breakfasts every day (3,4). In 2006, approximately 12.8 million American children, or one in six, lived below the poverty guideline, and among households with children, 10.9% (12.6 million households) were food insecure (3). For millions of other children, lack of time is a barrier to consuming breakfast. Many of today’s parents find it difficult to prepare a nutritious breakfast due to early morning school bus schedules, long commutes to jobs, and nontraditional work hours (3,4). Also, some children, especially adolescents, are not hungry when they wake up (3,4). An unhealthy preoccupation with weight and drastic weight-loss behaviors are associated with skipping breakfast among children and adolescents (1,9,10). Skipping breakfast appears to be associated with other unhealthful lifestyle factors (e.g., smoking, infrequent exercise) (1).
Although participation in the federally-supported School Breakfast Program (SBP) has increased in recent decades, this program continues to be underutilized (3,4,11). Recognizing the importance of breakfast for children’s health and academic performance, efforts are underway to expand this program into more schools and to increase participation within schools.
This Digest provides an overview of the SBP, reviews the importance of a healthful breakfast for children, and identifies efforts being made to increase participation in the SBP.
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