Skip Breakfast, Pack on the Pounds

Teens who start the day with a healthful meal stay trimmer, study suggests.   For teens looking to keep weight off, it doesn’t have to be a breakfast of champions, but it should be some kind of breakfast — and preferably a healthy one.

Yet another study is confirming that adolescents who skip breakfast have a higher risk of being overweight.

More than one-third of teens aged 12 to 19 are now overweight or at risk of becoming overweight.    And over the past two decades, the proportion of children who are overweight has doubled; among teens, the proportion has tripled, according to background information with the study.

An estimated 12 percent to 34 percent of children and adolescents skip breakfast on a regular basis, a number that increases with age.   Previous studies have linked breakfast skipping with a greater tendency to gain weight.

“What happens is that total fat and saturated fat as a percentage of total daily energy were lower in the breakfast eaters compared with breakfast skippers,” explained Peter Richel, M.D., Northern Westchester Hospital Center.   “This really shows that we have the potential to improve energy balance and weight control with HEALTHY breakfast consumption.    And we’re not talking pop-tarts.”

Start your children’s day off right with GNLD Protein Drinks and a balanced breakfast, along with proper vitamin supplementation, to make sure their young bodies are developing properly and starting the day off right.

SOURCES:   Mark Pereira, Ph.D., associate professor, epidemiology and community health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis;    Peter Richel, M.D., chief, pediatrics, Northern Westchester Hospital Center, Mount Kisco, N.Y.;   March 2008 Pediatrics

Tagged with: healthy breakfast • mark pereira • northern westchester • public health university • school of public health • university of minnesota minneapolis

Filed under: Nutritional Information

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