Policy Brief
The Importance of
Breakfast Student name
What’s the Big Deal? The Importance of Breakfast Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It provides the body with the necessary nutrition to get the most out of any given day. There have been various studies performed demonstrating the large impact it has on both mental and physical health. Most recently, initiatives have been introduced to provide breakfasts at school because of the positive impact on students’ grades and performance (Imberman 2012).
Breakfast is known to help sustain a healthy body weight. According to a recent study done by the US Department of Health and Human Service, those who regularly eat breakfast have a lower Body Mass Index than those who do not regularly eat breakfast (BMI). This seems counterintuitive because it seems that if a person consumes less calories by skipping breakfast, they would have a lower BMI. However, those who skip breakfast tend to become famished by lunch and overeat to try and compensate. The low energy level increases persons cravings for food high in fat and sugar in order to regain energy. Eating these types of food and sugar typically causes weight gain. (Bhattacharya 2006).
This weight gain correlated with skipping breakfast can also be linked to the slowing of the metabolism. The metabolism breaks down the food consumed and converts it to the necessary energy the body needs throughout the day. While sleeping, the body fasts and uses up the glucose in the body, leaving the body with a depleted glucose level in the morning. In order to keep the body’s metabolism running at full speed, it is important to replenish with the nutrient rich food first thing in the morning. When a person neglects to break the fast and replenish the
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The Importance Of Breakfast (cont’d)
body, the metabolism adjusts and slows down. This is unhealthy because the body is no longer able to process food as fast and stores the extra as fat. Excessive fat storage is problematic because it puts a person at risk of becoming overweight or obese, a problem plaguing the American population. According to the Centers of Disease Control and prevention 69.2 percent of Americans over the age of twenty are overweight.
Breakfast has a surprising impact on a person’s mental capability. Terrill Bravender, a Duke University science professor, points out that when the bodies glucose is depleted the “brain simply doesn't operate as well. People have difficulty understanding new information, [they have a] problem with visual and spatial understanding and they don't remember things as well.”
Eating breakfast has also been linked with having better heart health. Why? Those who skip breakfast tend to have a higher blood cholesterol level and put them at a higher risk for heart disease. Breakfast eaters tend to have a healthier diet. They are less likely to overeat because the body typically receives the necessary nutrients to function and does not continue to crave food when they are at the days calorie limit. Additionally, they are less likely to crave fatty sugary food, and therefore much more likely to consume a balanced diet. (Aubrey 2006). Eating breakfast daily is a simple task that could make a huge impact on your life.
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Breakfast, Mental Health, and Academic Success
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A good breakfast has been linked to better performance socially, mentally, and academically. In 1997 the State of Minnesota preformed a three-year study on a new breakfast pilot program introduced at a local elementary school. Researchers observed that after ensuring every student consume a balance breakfast, student excelled in school. There was an increase in student’s math and reading scores by an average of 17.5 percent, increased attendance rate, decreased nurse visits, decreased hyper activity, and increased students attention. In 1998 a similar study by PY Park and D Benton published in the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”, showed that students who ate breakfast had an increased ability to remember. They proved this using two groups of students, one who had eaten breakfast and one who hadn’t. They then tested both groups and found that the breakfast eaters performed spectacularly higher. They even went so far as to repeat the experiment, this time distracting the breakfast eaters while giving them words to memorize, while leaving the non breakfast eater unperturbed while given there words to memorize. They came up with same results; those who ate breakfast to outperform those who went without. (IFIC 2011).
In addition the US National Library of Medicine produced a study that showed a correlation between consuming breakfast each day and lower stress and depression level as well as a lesser amount of perceived stress than those who didn't (Benton 1998).
Are All Breakfasts Created Equal? Breakfast has the potential to do great things for the body, but does this mean that you can eat a sugary cinnamon roll the size of a melon and still be considered healthy? The answer is no, not all breakfasts are created equal; some foods are better suited for starting the day than others. So what makes a good breakfast? A good breakfast is one that provides the body with long lasting energy, allowing the body to release energy gradually throughout the morning. You can determine how well a breakfast will do this by looking at its glycemic index the measurement for how fast the body can break down the food and turn it into usable energy). According to Terrill Bravender, it is important to eat a breakfast that has a low glycemic index. Foods that have a high glycemic index will spike the blood sugar level creating a rush of energy that quickly turns into a low. Having an unsteady blood sugar level causes a release of hormones that decrease mood, energy level, and ability to remember. According to the ADA, "when a breakfast consists mostly of sugary foods, such as fruit, fruit juice, candy or pop, a quick rise in blood sugar occurs, causes a rush of energy. After about an hour, blood sugar and energy decline, bringing on symptoms of hunger" (Webb).
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Best
This is the best breakfast option because it will provide the body with all the nutrition it needs to perform at a high level throughout the day. The protein and complex carbs found in the pita veggie egg scramble will satiate the body; the fruit and juice will provide
additional vitamins and nutrients.
Good A breakfast that exceeds fifty calories and has a low glycemic index is always a good way to start the day. This breakfast however falls short of being considered balanced because it only contains food from one of the five major food groups.
Better
Cereal and milk is a great morning meal because it provides the calorie and nutrition to create a sustainable energy level. It is a good choice because the food has a low glycemic index and exceeds fifty calories, meaning it will provide lasting energy. It is also considered balanced as it contains two of the five major food groups.
Therefore it is important to eat foods with a low glycemic index so that the body has a gradual rise in blood sugar and a sustained amount of energy throughout the morning. Foods with a lower glycemic level may have the same amount of sugar, carbohydrates, as food with higher glycemic level, but what makes them different is that they contain a larger amount of protein and fiber that makes these foods lower on the scale (Beaudry). The following are examples of breakfasts according to the expert Terrill Bravender;
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AVOID!
The unhealthiest choice is one that contains a high sugar and fat content and little protein have an extremely high glycemic index. This means that the body will quickly hit a high than suffer a low the rest of the day. Donuts, candy, and scones are examples of breakfast foods to avoid.
Breakfast In the DU Community In a recent study done by Food Insight, 93 percent of Americans stated that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. Unfortunately many choose to overlook this, specifically students. Personally I am an avid breakfast lover, so it is always shocking to see how infrequently my roommate eats breakfast. A typical morning consists of her rolling out of bed ten minutes before class, taking a quick shower, and then making a mad dash to class. Even more surprising to me is that she is no exception, in fact when I eat breakfast at Nelson dining hall every morning, only a small fraction of the normal lunch and dinner dining crowd are there. Taken aback by these observations I decided to conduct a survey centered on DU students and breakfast consumption. Using standards from the School Breakfast Food Program initiative, breakfast was defined in the survey as being a meal consumed within the first two hours of waking and was over 50 calories (Imberman 2012). In order for breakfast to meet the standards of being considered balanced, it had to contain two of the main food groups (fruit, milk, veggies, meat, wheat).
I surveyed 86 students and found that 30 percent of them are regularly neglecting to eat breakfast, and only 19.16 percent are eating a balanced breakfast. In addition I discovered that students spend very little time on breakfast; a majority of students interviewed spent less than ten minutes, with around 40 percent of the majority spending less than five minutes. The little time spent on breakfast and the unhealthy breakfast habits may be correlated, as those who do not have enough time in the morning are less likely to prepare a proper sensible meal.
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According to Professional Chef Kirsten Haas, the chaos University student’s experience in the morning is one of the main problems hindering students from developing healthy breakfast habits. Students generally have busy lives that require them to stay up late and wake up early, not accommodating eight hours of sleep. Tired mornings make students less likely to go to the dining hall or prepare a proper breakfast, as their main focus is to maximize their amount of sleep. In addition, many students have leisure time, or rather unscheduled time, at night, allowing them to eat most of their calories then. Therefore many students are not only sluggish upon waking, they also have no apetite, creating yet another reason many students miss out on breakfast. In addition, studies have also pointed to missing breakfast as an intentional choice by students who think ditching the extra meal will decrease there weight levels. College students who do not eat breakfast create large problems for themselves including obesity, lack of focus, decreased energy level, slow metabolism, and high blood cholesterol levels. (Bhatttacharya 2006)
When a person sleeps at night, there body fasts and consumes the remaining glucose in their body. Upon waking, the body needs to restore its low glucose level in order to run on full energy by eating right after waking. Students who choose not to eat breakfast have a significantly lower energy level (Cho 2003). In addition they also show a decreased level of concentration. Students are distracted by a constant feeling of hunger throughout the day and are unable to sustain focus on one subject as long as students who have had breakfast (Cho 2003).
In addition to aiding ones mental well being, it contributes to ones internal health. Skipping breakfast has been linked to higher blood cholesterol levels as well as a higher BMI level according to a recent study done in 2008 in a journal “Pediatrics”, eating breakfast daily averaged a lower BMI level. The body mass index is a ratio that compares a persons height to weigh, (a higher BMI level means the more weight one has per there height). This is because students’ metabolisms are not started properly making it work at a slower speed. Therefore they do not eat all morning then return from their duties in the late afternoon. By this time the body is famished causing many to feel the need to overeat. This large intake in calories combined with a slow metabolism creates excess calories that get stored as fat. According to Dr. Schnieder from the journal named Pediatrics, “the biggest predictor of overeating is under eating”. With regards to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seventeen percent of teens agers (twelve – nineteen) are overweight or obese, making them early target for fatal illness such as diabetes or heat conditions. (Yu 2009). Kirsten Haas recognizes this as being bad because one “must have all the energy and steady blood sugar from a large breakfast to be productive throughout the day, as well as a whole day to digest and to use the calories so calories in equals calories used”.
The Issues On the DU Campus: The Negative Side of Neglecting Breakfast
“[one] mus t have all the energy and steady blood sugar from a large breakfast to be productive throughout the day, as well as a wh ole d ay to digest and to use the calories so calories in equals calories used” Professional Chef Kirst en Ha as
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The Solution: Good Morning DU The current problem at DU is that there are not enough students eating breakfast. To solve this problem I will create a club at DU called Good Morning DU. The purpose of the club is to increase the percentage of students who eat breakfast regularly. To achieve this goal we will lobby DU to make some changes around campus to make breakfast more accessible to the DU student population. We will layout our case using facts and statistics to emphasize the importance of students eating breakfast then push for three plans of action.
First, we will ask for Nelson, Nagel, and Halls dining hall to be open for breakfast on the weekend. Currently the dining halls do not open until ten am on the weekends to serve students brunch. This is underserving the DU population because many students have a busy schedule that does not allow them to sleep in this late. These students need high energy to achieve the high level of productivity that they strive for. In order to achieve
this to the fullest extent, they need a healthy breakfast to kick start there day. Something as simple as the option of a “light” breakfast where the dining hall simply offers cereal, fruit, and bread, and other foods that are able to sit out at room temperature would provide a cheap solution that would help DU students preform better.
Second we will lobby for a new location of breakfast. Many students are pressed for time in the morning and therefore do not have time for a healthy thought out meal. Therefore we need to make an option for students that are more convenient for them. As of now we have cafes on campus that charge meal plan cash and do not serve very healthy options. I believe we could increase the percent of students eating breakfast by providing them with a breakfast cart on the Driscoll. There is a lot of student traffic walking through the Driscoll Bridge on their way to class in the morning, meaning we could target a large population of the DU community. We could also increase student’s ease of attaining a proper breakfast by making it a meal swipe. This could be as simple as yogurt and granola, or bagels and cream cheese, or grab and go cereal boxes with milk. This could easily be maintained and
make a wholesome breakfast for busy DU students.
Our third goal would be to combine with the members from Students For Sustainable Food Club. I am aware that the DU students who are part of this club are in the process of making a food truck, if we could combine our two goals of sustainability and increasing breakfast consumption we could combine our efforts and create a breakfast food cart. Not only would this provide more energy and funding to get their project going, it would forward our goal by providing yet another location for students to access breakfast. One thing unique about our food cart is that it would
provide students with the option to purchase food that is not made by the typical University catering company.
Our Club will work towards bettering the DU community. This club will help increase the amount of students consuming breakfast, which will then create a tidal wave affect. This will hopefully increase students performance in school, decrease the amount of students who gain the dreaded freshman fifteen, and help students create healthy habits for a healthy future.
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Works Cited
Aubrey, Allison. "A Better Breakfast Can Boost a Child's Brainpower." National Public Radio. NPR, 4 Oct. 2006. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5738848>.
Bhattacharya, Jayanta, Janet Currie and Steven Haider. 2006. “Breakfast of Champions? The School Breakfast program and the Nutrition of Children and Families,” Journal of Human Resources, 41(3): 445-466.
Benton, D, and P Y. Parker. "Breakfast, blood glucose, and cognition." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 67.4 (1998): 120-27. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/67/4/772S.short>.
Beaudry, Christine. "Breakfast Choices." Kaboose. Disney Online, n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://health.kaboose.com/nutrition/breakfast-is-best.html>. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Center for Disease Control; CDC 24/7 Protecting People Saving Lives. Center for Health Statistics, 10 Oct. 2012. Web.
13 May 2013. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm>. Cho, Sungsoo, Marion Dietrich, and Coralie J. Brown. "The Effect of Breakfast Type on Total Daily Energy Intake and Body Mass Index: Results from the Third
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III)." Journal of the American College of Nutrition 22.4 (2003): 296-302. Print. IFIC Staff. International Food Information Council Foundation. Ed. Don Kim. IFIC, 7 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.foodinsight.org/Home.aspx>. Imberman, Scott A. "The Effect of Providing Breakfast in Class on Student Performance." Breakfast effects on Students. Ed. Adriana D. Kugler. N.p., 6 Feb. 2012.
Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.aefpweb.org/sites/default/files/webform/imberman%20kugler%202012.pdf>. Webb, Robyn. "Breakfast On The Go." American Diabetes Association. THE WEBB, n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-
fitness/food/planning-meals/breakfast-on-the-go.html#oneminutesolutions>. Yu, Winnie. "Case for Eating Breakfast." Healthy Children 27 Nov. 2009: 27-30. Print.