Breakfast consumption among children and adolescents in the Netherlands.
BACKGROUND
The Netherlands Nutrition Centre (NNC) recommends eating a daily breakfast preferably including products from five food groups. The aims of this study were to examine to what extent breakfast consumption among Dutch youngsters attending primary and secondary education (aged 10-19 years) is in accordance with these recommendations and whether breakfast habits differ among demographic subgroups.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 2404 youngsters at 71 schools in the Netherlands. All Dutch schools were stratified by educational level and province, and randomly ordered within the strata. Participants completed an online questionnaire at school including food frequency items and a 24-h recall.


RESULTS
The percentage of participants reporting to consume breakfast every day varied between 62.9 and 95.5 in different subgroups. Skipping breakfast was associated with being older, being a girl, attending vocational or senior general education and being of non-Dutch origin. Of the participants, <9% consumed products from five food groups as recommended. Participants especially ate products from the 'grain group', followed by the 'dairy group', the 'fats group', 'the liquids group' and the 'fruit/fruit juice group'. Bread, butter and milk were the most frequently consumed products and the majority chose healthy (i.e. low-fat) variants within food groups (i.e. wholemeal bread).


CONCLUSIONS
Health promotion efforts should aim to stimulate breakfast consumption, particularly among vocational school students and adolescents of non-Dutch origin. Special attention should be given to breakfast quality. Future research should investigate whether better adherence to the recommendations of the NNC results in enhanced nutrient intake at breakfast.
Raaijmakers
Lieke G M
LG
NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Department of Health Promotion, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands. lieke.raaijmakers@gvo.unimaas.nl
Bessems
Kathelijne M H H
KM
Kremers
Stef P J
SP
van Assema
Patricia
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D002523:Edible Grain; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009753:Nutritive Value; D012923:Social Class; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult