Breakfast Consumption and Diet Quality of Teens in Southwestern Ontario

BACKGROUND: Breakfast skipping has previously been associated with worse diet quality among adolescents, although research from Canada is relatively sparse. Additionally, many studies do not consider diet quality as a function of calories, which is problematic as skippers tend to consume less energy than consumers. PURPOSE: This study investigated breakfast skipping habits and Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores among teens in Southwestern Ontario. METHODS: Cross-sectional, baseline data were used from the SmartAPPetite project, which is currently ongoing. 24-hour dietary recalls and sociodemographic information were obtained from participants and parents (n=512). RESULTS: Breakfast skippers had significantly lower diet quality, even when calories were controlled for, though the differences were relatively small. On average, both skippers and consumers had poor diet quality. CONCLUSION: While breakfast may appear to be an attractive meal to intervene upon to improve diet quality, consumption alone is not likely to meaningfully improve diet quality among teens.

Name thesis:degree_name

M Sc

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Western Ontario

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Woods, Nicolas

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Seabrook, Jamie
• Stranges, Saverio

• Healthy Eating Index
• teens
• adolescent
• breakfast
• diet quality
• meal skipping

Language dc:language.iso

en_ca

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/30535

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uwo.scholaris.ca:20.500.14721/30535