Researchers conducted a research to numerous students in a bid to fight childhood obesity. Surprisingly, the study found out allowing kids to eat two breakfast daily can help avoid childhood obesity.
According to Voice of America, about one-third of children in America between ages 6 and 11 are overweight or obese. Hence, researchers from Community Alliance for Research and Engagement, or CARE at the Yale School of Public Health and the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut tracked nearly 600 middle-school students from fifth to seventh grade -- searching for the possible contributing factors of childhood obesity.
Check out tips from @CoolMomPicks on modeling healthy behavior in kids #FUTP60 #breakfast https://t.co/4No1wHyzIG pic.twitter.com/zO6SVuTlUL
— Nancy Sandbach MS RD (@NancySandbach) Marso 14, 2016
The team tracked the children's eating pattern. Likewise, they also monitored the children's weight. At the end of the course of the research, the group found out students who ate one or double-breakfast have lower obesity rate. Moreover, the researchers discovered the risk of childhood obesity doubled among kids who constantly skipped breakfast or ate their breakfast meals inconsistently.
"It seems it's a bigger problem to have kids skipping breakfast than to have these kids eating two breakfasts," Marlene Schwartz of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity and one of the study's authors said about the study which was published in the journal Pediatric Obesity.
1 in 5 Colorado high school kids is overweight or obese. How do we address this unhealthy statistic? pic.twitter.com/15TXzChFm0 — @ImagineCO2016 (@ImagineCO2016) Marso 2, 2016
Previous research has associated eating breakfast with improved academic performance and healthy body weight for students. However, there were concerns been raised -- second breakfast at school after eating breakfast at home could only increase the risk of weight gain or childhood obesity.
But Jeannette Ickovics, the paper's senior author said the study does not support those concerns. "Providing a healthy breakfast to students at school helps alleviate food insecurity and is associated with students maintaining a healthy weight," she added. Nevertheless, more research needs to be carried out as researchers didn't examine why skipping breakfast affect childhood obesity.
