Breakfast eating habits and its association with mental wellbeing and mindful attention awareness among university students of Pune district, Maharashtra, India

Abstract

Background: To study the effect of breakfast eating habits on mental distress and mindful attention awareness of 18-24 year old young adults. Method: Cross-sectional study with simple random sampling technique was carried out in 3 universities in Pune, Maharashtra. A total of N=206 subjects aged between 18-24 year participated in the study. Mental well-being was screened for mental distress and mindful attention using Hopkins symptoms checklist-10 and mindful attention awareness scale respectively. Breakfast eating habits was accessed qualitatively and quantitatively using food frequency questionnaire. Anthropometric data and lifestyle pattern was assessed using structured questionnaires. Statistical analysis included descriptive statistics, chi square and correlation tests.  Results: A total of 42.23% subjects skipped their breakfast and 57.76% subjects ate their breakfast. Amongst those who ate breakfast 23.2% consumed it daily. Most common reason reported for breakfast skipping included getting up late (37.3%).When compared across genders females skipped breakfast more often (60.3%) as compared to males (33.3%). Significant association was found between breakfast eating habits with mental distress (p<0.001) and mindful attention awareness (p<0.001). Also consumption of milk was significantly associated with lower mental distress and improved mindful attention (p<0.001). Conclusion: These findings support the concept that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and skipping breakfast may result in poor mental distress and mindful attention their by resulting in poor overall mental well-being of  18-24 year old young adults.