Abstract
Evidence indicates that breakfast consumption is associated with a cluster of health-related behaviors, yet studies in mainland China are scarce. This study is conducted to describe the frequency of breakfast consumption among Chinese adolescents and examine its associations with other dietary, physical activity, sedentary, sleep, cigarette-smoking, and alcohol-drinking behaviors. Breakfast consumption and other health-related behaviors data was collected via a self-administered questionnaire in a cross-sectional study in Zhejiang Province, China. A total of 19,542 school-aged adolescents were recruited in this survey. The associations between breakfast consumption and other health-related behaviors were examined using logistic regression models. A significantly higher prevalence of daily breakfast consumption was found among students who were younger (p for trend <0.001), from urban schools (p < 0.001), and academic high schools (p < 0.001). More frequent vegetable and milk consumption, greater physical activity, and longer sleep duration were positively associated with daily breakfast consumption, while soft drinks and fast food consumption, computer use, cigarette-smoking and alcohol-drinking behaviors were inversely associated. The prevalence of irregular breakfast consumption was relatively high among Chinese adolescents in Zhejiang Province. Daily breakfast consumption was associated with a constellation of health-related behaviors.
Highlights
Breakfast is widely considered to be the most important meal of the day
Out of 19,542 students participating in the study, 7533 (38.55%) did not consume breakfast daily
Several studies have explored the association between social economic status (SES) and breakfast consumption habits, which almost consistently suggested that the irregular breakfast habit was more common among adolescents of low SES [11,18]
Summary
Breakfast is widely considered to be the most important meal of the day. Considerable studies have revealed that consumption of a regular breakfast contributes to improving overall nutritional status in children and adolescents [1,2]. Adolescents who consume breakfast have been shown to have better overall quality of life, school attendance and academic achievement [3,4,5,6]. Studies have linked skipping breakfast to adverse health outcomes of overweight and obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome [7,8,9,10]. Despite the importance of breakfast consumption, a high prevalence of skipping breakfast among children and adolescents is widely reported in many countries across the world [11,12]. For Chinese populations, the breakfast consumption habit is understudied, according to some certain surveys, not eating breakfast is a public health concern, especially among adolescents and young adults [13,14]
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