A typical working-day breakfast among children, adolescents and adults belonging to the middle and upper socio-economic classes in Mumbai, India - challenges and implications for dietary change.
OBJECTIVE
Breakfast has been linked to several aspects of health, yet breakfast skipping is rampant across the globe. Studies in India have focused mostly on children. Hence the present study examined breakfast behaviour across different age and gender groups.


METHODS
Cross-sectional sample, purposive sampling. Nutrient intakes of the participants derived from 24 h dietary recall and 3 d breakfast record data were compared with RDA values prescribed by the Indian Council of Medical Research using Student's t test, with P < 0·05 taken to indicate significance.


METHODS
Mumbai, India.


METHODS
Participants (n 1027) aged 8 years and above.


RESULTS
Nutritional adequacy of the breakfast meal and that of the day's diet were the main outcome measures. Eighty-one per cent of the participants had a nutritionally inadequate breakfast. Intakes of Fe and dietary fibre were notably low. Consumption of just milk or milk plus a milk food-based drink among schoolchildren (49 %) and increased breakfast skipping among adolescents (37 %) were seen.


CONCLUSIONS
The study identifies both irregularities and/or nutritional inadequacies with respect to the breakfast meal. Age- and gender-specific challenges in breakfast behaviour need to be addressed. Development of 'nutrient-dense' breakfast foods that can be prepared easily, school breakfast programmes and education on the importance of breakfast are the needs of the hour.
Research Centre, Nirmala Niketan College of Home Science, Mumbai, India. nn_rc@rediffmail.com
Malathi
M
Sivaramakrishnan
Vidya
V
Kamath
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001628:Beverages; D062408:Breakfast; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards*; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D012923:Social Class; D014937:Work; D055815:Young Adult
D004043:Dietary Fiber; D019266:Iron, Dietary