Weight Loss, Healthy Eating News 2017: Skipping Breakfast Can Lead to Childhood Obesity, Study Suggests
Good habits can start from childhood, and a healthy diet is no exception. The importance of a healthy eating schedule, starting from breakfast, can actually help prevent obesity in children as a recent study found out.
It's already hard to control how much kids eat, and even more so for those who go to school and away from the close supervision of parents. This could result in them eating more snacks and fast food, especially when they skip breakfast.
The difference is so pronounced that it's enough to make a difference in their body mass index, as a study has shown.
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According to the study done on Australian children aged between 2 and 5 years old, kids who skipped breakfast have a higher body mass index than those who took their regular morning meal. What's more is that the girls at just 5 years of age are more prone to skip compared to boys of their age — at 57 percent for the girls compared to 43 percent of boys.
A higher body mass index could eventually lead to obesity if left unchecked. This association between skipping breakfast and weight gain is also supported by another study, which linked a regular breakfast with a lower risk of diabetes in children.
"There is evidence that if you skip breakfast you are more likely to be overweight," Lead researcher Angela Donin from St. George's University of London said. " If you have not eaten breakfast you are more likely to snack - and those snacks are more likely to be energy-heavy," she noted.
She adds that a regular breakfast, especially if it includes healthy items rich in fiber, "could protect against the early development of type 2 diabetes risk."
As much as 26 percent of children who regularly skip breakfast were at a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in life. Obesity has also been linked to increased risks of cancer and cardiac arrests, as more studies show.
