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Breakfast Consumption by African-American and White Adolescent Girls Correlates Positively with Calcium and Fiber Intake and Negatively with Body Mass Index

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.03.003Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To describe age- and race-related differences in breakfast consumption and to examine the association of breakfast intake with dietary calcium and fiber and body mass index (BMI).

Design

Data from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study, a 9-year, longitudinal biracial cohort study with annual 3-day food records.

Subjects/setting

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study recruited 2,379 girls (1,166 white and 1,213 African American), aged 9 or 10 years at baseline for an observational study. Retention rates were very high at visits two through four (96%, 94%, and 91%), but declined to a low of 82% at visit seven, and increased to 89% at visit 10.

Main outcome measures

Frequency of breakfast consumption, dietary calcium and fiber, and BMI.

Statistical analyses

Generalized estimation equations methodology was used to examine differences in the frequency of breakfast eating by age and race. Generalized estimation equations analyses were also conducted to test whether breakfast consumption was predictive of intake of dietary calcium and fiber, and BMI, adjusting for potentially confounding effects of site, age, race, parental education, physical activity, and total energy intake.

Results

Frequency of breakfast eating declined with age, white girls reported more frequent breakfast consumption than African-American girls, and the racial difference decreased with increasing age. Days eating breakfast were associated with higher calcium and fiber intake in all models, regardless of adjustment variables. Days eating breakfast were predictive of lower BMI in models that adjusted for basic demographics (ie, site, age, and race), but the independent effect of breakfast was no longer significant after parental education, energy intake, and physical activity were added to the model.

Conclusions

Dietetics professionals need to promote the importance of consuming breakfast to all children and adolescents, especially African-American girls.

Section snippets

Participants and Recruitment

As previously reported (19), the NHLBI Growth and Health Study recruited 2,379 African-American and white girls who were 9 or 10 years old at study entry at three study sites: University of California at Berkeley; University of Cincinnati/Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; and Westat, Inc/Group Health Association, Rockville, MD. Berkeley recruited participants from public and parochial schools in the Richmond Unified School District. The area was chosen based on census tract data

Breakfast Consumption in African-American and White Girls Aged 9 to 19 Years

The frequency of breakfast consumption in the NHLBI Growth and Health Study sample by race and age is reported in Table 1. The number of days breakfast was eaten tended to decrease with increasing age (Wald test of the age main effect in the generalized estimation equation model: χ2[10]=1,579.38, P<.0001). As illustrated in the Figure, at age 9 years, approximately 77% of white girls and 57% of African-American girls ate breakfast on all 3 days, compared with approximately 32% and 22%

Discussion

There has been increased awareness of the beneficial effects of eating breakfast as a means to promote healthful eating patterns among adolescents. Our results show that breakfast eating decreases with increasing age, frequency of breakfast eating is lower in African-American girls than white girls, and breakfast eating is associated with higher calcium and fiber intake, as well as lower BMI, in a simple model that ignores the potentially confounding effect of variables such as total energy

Conclusions

Based on the results of our study, we conclude that skipping breakfast becomes more frequent as children grow older and may predispose adolescent girls to diets that are inadequate in calcium and fiber. Also, girls who routinely eat breakfast have a reduced BMI compared with those girls who are infrequent breakfast eaters. Eating breakfast may be associated with healthful behaviors, such as physical activity, which assist in control of body weight.

In community-based settings, dietetics

S. G. Affenito is an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT.

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    S. G. Affenito is an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, CT.

    D. R. Thompson is a research scientist.

    B. A. Barton is vice president at Maryland Medical Research Institute, Baltimore, MD.

    D. L. Franko is a professor of psychology in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA.

    S. R. Daniels is a professor of cardiology at Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH.

    E. Obarzanek is a research nutritionist and acting leader, Prevention Scientific Research Group Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Bethesda, MD.

    G. B. Schreiber is a senior research scientist at Westat, Inc, Rockville, MD.

    R. H. Striegel-Moore is a professor, Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.

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