Citation: Deshmukh-Taskar, P.R., Radcliffe, J.D., Liu, Y., Nicklas, T.A. 2010. Do breakfast skipping and breakfast type affect energy intake, nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, and diet quality in young adults? NHANES 1999-2002. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 29(4):407-418.
Interpretive Summary: Efforts to lower the prevalence of breakfast skipping among young adults are needed. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumed on energy/nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, and diet quality using a cross-sectional design. Nutrition/health professionals should encourage the consumption of a healthy breakfast (e.g., one that includes a ready-to-eat cereal), especially among young adults. Additional studies comparing the impact of breakfast skipping and the type of breakfast consumed on nutrient intakes and diet quality should incorporate a longitudinal study design and/or multiple days of dietary assessment.
The objective of this study was to assess the impact of breakfast skipping and type of breakfast consumed on energy/nutrient intake, nutrient adequacy, and diet quality using a cross-sectional design. The setting was The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002. The subjects were young adults (20-39 years, n = 2615). A 24-hour dietary recall was used, with breakfast defined as self-reported. Covariate-adjusted sample-weighted means for the entire day's energy/nutrient intakes, mean adequacy ratio (MAR) for nutrient intakes, and diet quality (i.e., Healthy Eating Index [HEI]-2005) scores were compared using analysis of variance and Bonferroni's correction (p < 0.0167) among breakfast skippers (BS), ready-to-eat-cereal breakfast consumers (RTECC), and other breakfast consumers (OBC). Energy/nutrient intakes and food consumption at breakfast were also compared (p = 0.05). Twenty-five percent of young adults were BS, 16.5% were RTECC, and 58.4% were OBC. Intakes of total energy, percent energy from carbohydrate, and dietary fiber were higher in RTECC than in BS and OBC. Percent energy intake from added sugars was higher in BS than in RTECC and OBC. Compared with BS and RTECC, OBC consumed a lower percent energy from carbohydrates and total sugars, but consumed a higher percent energy from total fat and discretionary solid fats and had a higher cholesterol intake. Intakes of several micronutrients were higher in RTECC than in BS and OBC. Both MAR and total HEI scores were the highest in RTECC and higher in OBC than in BS. The HEI scores for intakes of whole fruits, total/whole grains, milk, and percent energy from solid fat/alcohol/added sugar were the highest in RTECC and higher in OBC than in BS. Compared with OBC, RTECC had a higher HEI score for the intake of saturated fat. At breakfast, RTECC consumed higher intakes of total fruits, whole grains, dairy products, carbohydrates and total sugars, dietary fiber, and several micronutrients than OBC, who consumed higher intakes of meat/poultry/fish, eggs, total fat, discretionary oils/solid fats, cholesterol, and sodium than RTECC. We concluded that RTECC had more favorable nutrient intakes and better diet quality than BS and OBC.