title: Typical breakfast food consumption and risk factors for cardiovascular disease in a large sample of Italian adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The overall consumption of foods most frequently consumed in a typical Italian breakfast might be associated with a better cardiovascular risk profile in Italian adults.
  18,177 subjects (53,2% women), aged ≥ 35 yrs, randomly selected from the Moli-sani Project population were studied. The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) FFQ was used for dietary assessment. To derive breakfast pattern, an "a priori" approach was used: firstly, foods typical of the Italian breakfast were selected: milk, coffee, tea, yogurt, crispbread/rusks, breakfast cereals, brioche, biscuits, honey, sugar and jam. The breakfast score was obtained adding the amounts of all selected foods, expressed in grams/day, previously standardized to mean zero and standard deviation 1. Subjects showing a higher breakfast score appeared to be younger, more frequently women or smokers, with higher social status but less likely practicing physical activity. After multivariable analyses, subjects with a higher breakfast food consumption had a lower risk to have high body mass index, abdominal obesity, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol (P < 0.0001 for all) and C Reactive Protein (P = 0.022). The associations were unrelated to age, sex, smoking, obesity, physical activity and social status. Subjects with a higher food breakfast score also showed a better physical healthy status score, a lower risk of metabolic syndrome (OR = 0.63; 0.55-0.72 95% CI) and of future CVD (P < 0.0001 for both women and men).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consumption of typical Italian breakfast foods positively affects CVD risk profile in an adult Italian population.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetic and Environmental Epidemiology, Research Laboratories, John Paul II Centre for High Technology Research and Education in Biomedical Sciences, Catholic University, Largo Gemelli 1, 86100 Campobasso, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: di Giuseppe
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Castelnuovo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Melegari
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: De Lucia
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Santimone
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciarretta
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Barisciano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Persichillo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Curtis
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zito
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Krogh
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Gaetano
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Iacoviello
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors