Kids who skip breakfast may miss key nutrients: UK study
Children who skip breakfast on a regular basis are likely to fall short for the day in getting all their recommended essential nutrients, a UK study suggests.
Researchers examined four-day food diaries of almost 1,700 children aged four to 18 and found that girls were more likely to miss breakfast than boys.
More than 30 per cent of kids who skipped breakfast did not get enough iron during the day, compared to less than 5 per cent of kids who ate breakfast, the researchers report in British Journal of Nutrition.
Around 20 per cent of breakfast skippers were low on calcium and iodine, compared to roughly 3 per cent of kids who ate breakfast.
About 7 per cent of children who skipped breakfast were low in folate, compared to none in the groups that ate breakfast.
Fat intake went up when kids skipped breakfast, the researchers found.
- REUTERS
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