Is eating breakfast associated with increased fruit and whole grain intake in young women? (1021.11)

Abstract

Two key recommendations from the 2010 Dietary Guidelines (DG) focus on increasing fruit (F) and whole grain (WG) intake. However, only 15% of adult Americans meet the daily WG recommendation of 3 oz equivalents (eq). In addition, 58% of adults consume less than the DG F recommendation. Our study strictly defined breakfast eaters (BE) as consuming 蠅 15% of energy intake between 4‐10am. Breakfast skipping (BS) was defined as no food intake between 4‐10am for 蠅4 d/wk. Dietary intake was measured with 3 multi‐pass, 24 h recalls. A median split was used to separate high from low consumers of WG and F. Independence was tested with Pearson’s Chi‐squared. Consumption of WG oz eq averaged 2.11 ± 0.17 or 1.19 ± 0.25, for BE or BS respectively. Mean total F intake was 1.99 ± 0.23 servings in BE and 0.98 ± 0.16 servings in BS. BS was associated with lower intake of WG (p=0.012) and lower total F consumption (p<0.0005). Regularly eating breakfast is associated with a diet more aligned with the DG. Randomized control trials are needed to determine if a causal relationship between BE and better diet quality exists.Grant Funding Source: Supported by NIFA grant #2009‐35215‐05364 and USDA intramural funds Project #5306‐51530‐019‐00D