Breakfast Bites

15.1% of American adults eat some kind of pastry for breakfast, 15.3% eat eggs and 17.4% eat dry cereal. Another 17.3% do not eat breakfast regularly.

Prevention Medicine. 2000.

Adults who skip breakfast are likely to take in more calories during the course of the day than people who do eat breakfast. Breakfast skippers also have a tendency toward higher cholesterol.

American Institute for Cancer Research. The New American Plate for Breakfast. 2002.

After 8–12 hours with no meal or snack, breakfast is your body’s first chance to refuel its glucose levels. Glucose is the brain’s primary energy source, and is essential for brain functioning.

Warren JM, Henry JK, and V Simonite. Pediatrics, “Low GI Breakfasts and Reduced Food Intake in Preadolesent Children.” 2003.

Children who skip breakfast have slower memory recall and make more errors. Hungry children have lower math scores, more behavioral and academic problems, and are more likely to repeat a grade.

Food Research and Action Center. School Breakfast Scorecard. 2006.

Adults who eat breakfast generally get more work done in the morning and are in a better mood.

Benton D, and PY Parker. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "Breakfast, Blood Glucose and Cognition." 1998.

A study of 2959 members of the National Weight Control Registry who had lost 30 or more pounds for at least one year found that 78% regularly ate breakfast every day of the week.

Wyatt HR, et al. Obesity Research, “Long-Term Weight Loss and Breakfast in Subjects in the National Weight Control Registry.” 2002.

A study of girls 9–19 who routinely eat breakfast found they had a lower body mass index than girls who skipped breakfast.

Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2005.

If your child doesn’t have time to eat breakfast at home, check to see if their school offers a school breakfast program. Each school day, 9.6 million children are served breakfast at more than 99,000 schools and institutions.

Food Research and Action Center. School Breakfast Scorecard. 2006.

Breakfast and foods typically consumed at breakfast (whole grain cereals, fruit or 100% fruit juice, low fat milk) provide an excellent opportunity to meet serveral of the key recommendations in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

'What Foods Make Breakfast'. Breakfast Research Institute at www.breakfastresearchinstitute.org. Visited 5/24/2007.