Nutritious Breakfast and Snack May Help Adolescents Lose Weight And Keep It Off

25 July 2013 --- Adolescents are more likely to skip breakfast than any other age group. But new research shows starting the day with a cereal breakfast, along with exercise and nutrition education, may help overweight adolescents lose weight and maintain this weight loss for up to two years.

The study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved more than 70 Mexican-American adolescents between the ages of 10 and 14 in a middle school in Houston, TX.

During the initial six-month study, the adolescents were offered a cereal breakfast each morning, received nutrition education once per week and exercised four times per week. They were also provided a nutritious snack before leaving school.  "Before they go home is an important time to provide kids a healthy snack because if they are unsupervised when they get home, they tend to overeat," said Dr. Craig Johnston, assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and the lead investigator of the study.  After six months, the group of adolescents had significantly lowered their body mass index (BMI) and received no further interventions. 

Two years later, the researchers returned and found that those who had participated in the study had maintained a lower BMI compared to their classmates who were only given a manual on how to manage body weight.  According to Johnston, this is one of the first studies to show that education, exercise and a nutritious breakfast and snack can help adolescents not only lose weight, but also maintain weight loss in the long term.

Kellogg Company provided the breakfasts and snacks used in the study and also assisted in funding along with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  Because Kellogg believes in the importance of breakfast, particularly for children, Kellogg has pledged $1 million in grants to nonprofit partners Action for Healthy Kids, Share Our Strength and Food Research and Action Center so that more schools can participate in federally funded breakfast programs.  This is part of Kellogg Company's global initiative, Breakfasts for Better Days, through which the company is committed to providing 1 billion servings of cereal and snacks to children and families in need by the end of 2016.