Breakfast skipping and proposed effects of breakfast on obesity: A school based study in adolescents in Aligarh, India

Background: Breakfast is one of the most integral components of an individual's diet, despite that breakfast skipping is widely prevalent. Proposed effects of breakfast on obesity (PEBO) have corroborative evidences from different countries, especially, regarding the effects of breakfast skipping on obesity. Habits and lifestyle factors like breakfast skipping maybe formed, changed or strengthened in the tender age of adolescence and can also serve as an early warning system of threats that may engulf larger populations. The study objectives were to find out the frequency of breakfast skipping in adolescents and PEBO, including associations with body mass index (BMI) status. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study conducted in all the 13-15 years students who fulfilled the inclusion criteria in the schools affiliated to Aligarh Muslim University. The study was based on a pretested and validated questionnaire and the nutritional status/anthropometric records were measured by the now recommended World Health Organization multicentric growth reference standards 2007. Result and Conclusion: A total of 1416 students were studied, out of which frequency of breakfast consumption was found to be <2 times/week in 6. 21% of the study population, 3-5 times/week in 27.54% and 6-7 times/week in 66.24%. As far as PEBO is concerned, a decreased frequency of breakfast was found to have an association with obesity and overweight as well. Further, an association of breakfast skipping on the BMI Z scores was also found to be significant on analysis of variance and post-hoc tests. The high prevalence of breakfast skipping in India and PEBO is a big cause of concern for multiple reasons, and an intervention is urged.