Eureka! Institutional Repository

Among our nutritional habits, breakfast tends to be the less significant one due to the way of living in the temporary society. However, most scientists do not share this thesis. The common point of all the scientists is the definition of the breakfast as the meal that is taken before 11.00am. There have been a lot of studies that concern the breakfast consumption. To commence with, there has been noted an inverse relation between breakfast consumption and lipid profile. A better adequacy in micronutrients, such as Fe, Ca, vitamin D and B vitamins, has been also observed in people of 4-18 years old that consume cereals and milk, which are good sources of B vitamins, Ca and vitamin D, respectively. Breakfasts rich in fats and proteins gradually reduce the concentration and the alertness, while they increase the sense of sociability. Remarkable enough is the fact that the improved mood is associated with the consumption of a breakfast whose composition in macronutrients is similar to the one the same people used to consume. On the other hand, there are some people who do not have time to have breakfast or simply refuse to do so because of various reasons. What do researchers support about this habit? Over the time of the passage from the childhood to adulthood, the amount of the breakfast is gradually reduced, while the habit of having breakfast itself tends to decline. When skippers were evaluated, they were found more likely to obesity, overweight and cardiovascular diseases. One possible explanation could be that skippers are less physically active, a situation that is affected by many factors such as birth weight, parents’ BMI, sex, sedentary life and the adoption of a Western nutritional model that includes few vegetable fibers, simple carbohydrates and modified fats. Furthermore, the social environment, the media as well as the psychological factors play a very important role. Avoiding breakfast has also been linked with a generally unhealthy lifestyle, since research in adolescents aged 13-18 years old has shown that there is a correlation between skipping breakfast and other harmful behaviors, such as alcohol use, tobacco use and sedentary lifestyle. 5 What happens, however, in the case of children? This project was realized on a sample of 153 children aged 8-12 years old, and has as an objective to investigate the percentage of the children who avoid breakfast and to detect the existence and the type of the relationship between BMI and breakfast consumption. Moreover, there will be an examination of the association between breakfast consumption and healthy lifestyles in relation to physical activity, of the breakfast energy coverage rate in the whole day and of the nutritional status as far as macronutrients are concerned. For this reason, anthropometric measurements, such as height and weight, a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire for the detection of dietary habits, a questionnaire of physical activity and a recording of at least three days, were absolutely necessary.