Effect of a habit on breakfast intake in elementary and junior high school students

Eating habits in Japan are currently demonstrating a growing incidence of lifestyle diseases such as obesity and diabetes due to such factors as skipping breakfast and nutritional imbalance, and the number of persons skipping breakfast is tending to increase each year for all ages. 

A survey was conducted on lifestyle and eating habits among 304 elementary and 189 junior high school students to examine those factors having an effect on breakfast consumption and to establish a policy for providing group guidance to these students from the viewpoint of preventive medicine.  81% of elementary school students and 68% of junior high school students ate breakfast everyday. 

Although a significant positive correlation was observed between breakfast consumption and wakeup time among students of lower elementary school grades and junior high school students, only a tendency was observed among students of higher elementary school grades.  In addition, a significant positive correlation was observed between breakfast consumption and bedtime among all elementary school students and junior high school students.  Moreover, although a significant positive correlation was observed between breakfast consumption and non-specific complaints among students of lower elementary school grades and junior high school students, only a tendency was observed among students of higher elementary school grades.  Moreover, there were no significant differences observed between bowel movements or exercise and breakfast consumption among elementary or junior high school students.  

 Since policies for discouraging elementary and junior high school students from skipping breakfast will be deployed targeted for the 2010 fiscal year based on the survey of lifestyle and eating habits of this survey, these findings will serve as a basic reference for promoting these policies at schools and in the home.  More detailed studies will be required in the future to determine those factors affecting breakfast consumption .