Breakfast is food for the brain and for the rest of your body, say experts in children's nutrition. And taking in those morning calories are worth it, even for people concerned about their weight, a new study finds. Middle-school students who eat breakfast are more likely to have healthy weight than those who skip breakfast. This is true even for students who eat two breakfasts—one at home and one at school.
"Not skipping breakfast sets you up to not overeat later in the day, " concludes Marlene Schwartz. This psychologist studies obesity(肥胖) and directs the Rudd Center for Obesity & Food Policy at the University of Connecticut in Hartford.
Breakfast is considered so important that many schools now serve it as well as lunch. But at least one study has found that a lot of these kids who take part can end up eating two breakfasts, Schwartz says. People become concerned that kids who eat breakfast at home and at school may become obese.
In fact, Schwartz now says, that's not what her data have turned up.
Her group studied some 600 middle-school students. Over three years, students from 12 different schools—in fifth, sixth and seventh grades—were asked about their breakfasts. Throughout the study, about 34 to 44 percent of all students said they regularly ate breakfast at home. Up to 17 percent, or almost one in every six kids, regularly ate breakfast at school. On the whole, about one in every 10 kids ate breakfasts both at home and at school.
Eating habits change somewhat as the kids get older. For instance, fifth graders were more likely to regularly eat breakfast at home. But by seventh grade, 22 percent of the studied kids skipped breakfast frequently. Surprisingly, at every age, kids who ate breakfast were less likely to be overweight.
