Story at a glance
- Skipping breakfast or eating away from home are linked to an increased likelihood for behavioral issues, a new study suggests.
- Eating breakfast away from home had a similar negative effect as skipping the meal altogether.
- The study was released as millions return to classrooms across the U.S.
Where and what kids eat for breakfast — and not simply if they eat — has a tremendous effect on their behavioral health, according to a new study.
A first of its kind study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition shows that skipping breakfast or eating away from home are linked to an increased likelihood for behavioral issues.
“Similarly, consumption of certain foods/drinks are associated with higher or lower odds of psychosocial behavioral problems,” the study’s first author, José Francisco López-Gil of the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca, Spain, said in a media release.
Lopez-Gil and his colleagues analyzed data from 3,772 Spanish residents between the ages of 4 and 14 who participated in the 2017 Spanish National Health Survey, which included questions about a child’s breakfast habits and their psychosocial health.
Their findings stressed the importance of eating a healthy breakfast at home, as eating it away from home had a similar negative effect to skipping the meal altogether.
“The fact that eating breakfast away from home is associated with greater psychosocial health problems is a novel aspect of our study,” López-Gil said. “Our findings reinforce the need to promote not only breakfast as part of a healthy lifestyle routine, but also that it should be eaten at home.”
The team also found consuming “a breakfast that includes dairy and/or cereals, and minimizes certain animal foods high in saturated fat/cholesterol, could help to decrease psychosocial health problems in young people.”
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The study, released as millions return to classrooms across the U.S., adds to previous research measuring the effect breakfast has on school performance and behavioral problems.
Eating breakfast is linked to a host of positive outcomes in the classroom, including better memory, test scores and attention spans.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows slightly more than 82 percent of children eat breakfast each day. And the percentage decreases with age, dropping from nearly 96 percent among children aged 2 to 5 to almost 73 percent between ages 12 and 19.
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