The Place Where Kids Eat Breakfast Influences Weight Gain, Recent Research Revealed

The Place Where Kids Eat Breakfast Influences Weight Gain, Recent Research Revealed
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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and most persons will perform better after eating a healthy breakfast. A recent study conducted in Philadelphia revealed what would happen if children enrolled in the School Breakfast Program have the chance to eat it in the classroom instead of going to the cafeteria. According to the study, the places where kids eat breakfast influence weight gain.

A joint team of researchers from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and Temple’s University Center for Obesity Research and Education observed more than1,300 students enrolled in grades four to six. The children attended public schools located in low-income communities. Two and a half years were spent on research, and the team collaborated with Food Trust and the School district of Philadelphia.

According to official statistics, approximately 12.2 million children from low-income households are enrolled in the School Breakfast Program. Half of the schools that took part in the study serve breakfast in the cafeteria ahead of classes, accompanied by the standard nutrition education program. The other schools employed an intervention program, serving breakfast in the classroom and associating it with breakfast-specific nutrition education.

Eating breakfast in the classroom promotes weight gain

The researchers believed that the intervention program would decrease the growing trend of obesity among students with previous studies showing that children who eat breakfast regularly are more likely to have a healthy weight.

The breakfasts served by the schools adhered to the rules of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and included fruits or fruit juice, grain, protein, and milk. The average number of calories was the same for both types of meals, and the primary purpose of the study was to discover the effects of serving breakfast outside of the cafeteria.

When the study ended the researchers reached some interesting conclusions. The results note that 4% of the students who ate breakfast in the cafeteria and 12% of the students who ate breakfast in the classroom had a BMI which was near the obesity range. More research is needed to boost the efficiency of the breakfast program in the long run.


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Jeffrey likes to write about health and fitness topics, being a champion fitness instructor in the past.

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