Research

Commentary

The Role of Breakfast in Health: Definition and Criteria for a Quality Breakfast

Proposed Definition of Breakfast

Breakfast is defined literally as the meal that breaks the fast. Ideally, it is viewed as the meal that bridges an extended period of fasting, occurring as a result of the longest period of daily sleep, with performance and productivity. As such, breakfast serves as the foundation for a pattern of eating for the day. The following baseline definition of breakfast as an eating occasion is proposed for use in research:

Breakfast is the first meal of the day that breaks the fast after the longest

Proposed Criteria for a Quality Breakfast

Establishing criteria for a quality breakfast, including types and amounts of foods, nutrients, and energy, was recognized as a critical component for maximizing the potential benefits of the breakfast meal. Although the proposed definition for breakfast is intended to be applied in research settings, criteria that define a quality breakfast provide guidance on the ideal composition of breakfast. Evidence that intake of food groups or nutrients can be insufficient depending on food choices, or

Current Dietary Guidance Addressing Breakfast

The 2010 DGAC identified the imbalance between energy consumed and energy expended as the driving force behind the obesity epidemic.³⁷ Among the recommended actions to help curb obesity rates, eating a nutrient-dense breakfast was recognized as a dietary behavior associated with energy balance.³⁷ The DGAC based this recommendation on evidence that children and adolescents who do not eat breakfast are at increased risk of overweight and obesity.75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83 Breakfast

Overview of Consumer Breakfast Attitudes and Behaviors

Available consumer research indicates that Americans are aware of the importance of eating breakfast, but may not put this knowledge into practice due to varying attitudes, perceptions, and constraints related to time management and food availability.90, 91, 92 The International Food Information Council’s Food & Health Survey revealed that 93% of American adults agreed breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet less than half (44%) reported eating breakfast every day when last

Positive Outcomes of Breakfast Consumption

Research supports the importance of breakfast in health and well being, with evidence of positive nutritional, functional, and metabolic roles.¹⁵ In addition, breakfast consumption is considered an important determinant of a healthful lifestyle through its association with other health-promoting behaviors.¹¹⁵ Evidence from various types of research conducted worldwide with different dietary and breakfast habits demonstrates that regular breakfast consumption is associated with several key

Translating and Communicating Breakfast Guidance to Consumers

Health behavior change research and theory provide insights for translating the proposed breakfast definition in a way that supports consumers’ ability to implement the DGA recommendation to “eat a nutrient-dense breakfast.” Health behaviors, such as eating breakfast, are the result of simultaneous and reciprocal interactions between the person and the social and physical environments within which the behaviors occur.¹⁶⁷ The environment provides the resources and setting for individuals to

Translating and Communicating Breakfast Guidance to Industry and Policy Makers

Providing individuals with the motivation and skills to change breakfast eating behavior cannot be effective if the environment and policies make it difficult to choose this healthful behavior. In recent years, health professionals have come to understand that instead of making an individual solely responsible for making health changes, appropriate behaviors can be facilitated by helping to create a supportive environment and policies that make the desirable behavior fast, simple, affordable,

Conclusions and Future Directions

Breakfast is just one component of an overall healthful eating pattern.¹¹⁴ Compared with other eating occasions, however, there is evidence that consumption of a breakfast meal is positively associated with general health and well being for both adults and children, suggesting the need to elevate the importance of breakfast in dietary guidance and nutrition education and communications. It must be noted that a major limitation in making strong and consistent conclusions about the potential

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of Betsy Hornick, MS, RDN, for writing the initial draft of this manuscript and working with the authors on the revisions. Hornick is a nutrition writer and consultant for FoodMinds, LLC, a food and nutrition affairs company that represents the Kellogg Company. The authors wish to thank the following reviewers for providing input into the manuscript: Kendra Kattelmann, PhD, RDN, LDN, professor and director of didactic program in dietetics, South