Increased breakfast frequency and nutritional quality among schoolchildren after a national breakfast promotion campaign in Australia between 2000 and 2006

Abstract

This national study examined student breakfast consumption and nutritional quality of breakfast in 2000 and 2006 by gender, school grade, school socioeconomic status (SES) and weight status after the implementation of a national breakfast promotion campaign. Participants were 4237 schoolchildren in grades 2-12 from 32 schools in 2000 and 5645 schoolchildren from the same schools in 2006. Height and weight were measured. Missing breakfast decreased from 2000 to 2006 in primary school females (9.6-6.0%) and males (9.4-6.0%) and in secondary school females (27.7-18.7%) and males (19.9-12.1%). Breakfast skipping was greater and nutritional quality was poorer in students from low SES schools in both study years but significant improvement was seen from 2000 to 2006 among all SES groups. Overweight/obese participants were more likely than normal weight students to miss breakfast in 2000 (20.7% versus 16.0%) and in 2006 (14.3% versus 10.4%) but significant improvement was observed over the 6-year study period. Findings suggest that the consistent, significant and far-reaching improvements in breakfast consumption observed in this study were attributed to the breakfast promotion program conducted in each school community and disseminated nationally via a mass media campaign. © The Author 2011. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.