For Middle School Students, Two Breakfasts Are Better Than None, Says New Study

Breakfast has long been praised as the most important meal of the day, especially for growing kids, since it’s known to improve concentration (studies even show that grades go up) and promote weight control. Many schools offer free breakfast to any student who wants it, and some programs are putting breakfast right in the classrooms to eliminate the stigma for kids showing up to eat breakfast in the cafeteria because there isn’t enough food at home. But one criticism has persisted: Offering breakfast to students who’ve already eaten it at home may cause them to consume too many calories and gain weight, potentially exacerbating the childhood obesity problem in the United States.

Well, researchers from the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) at the Yale School of Public Health and the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at the University of Connecticut recently conducted a study aiming to set the record straight about the effects of school breakfast on body weight, and it looks like proponents have reason to celebrate.

Having breakfast at school is a good thing, and so is eating two breakfasts in one morning, according to the study, which was published in the journal Pediatric Obesity, Researchers found not only that middle school students who eat breakfast at school are less likely to be overweight or obese than students who don’t, but also that the finding holds true even if the students already had a first breakfast at home. On the other hand, students who skipped breakfast or ate breakfast inconsistently were more than two times as likely to be overweight or obese than kids who consumed two breakfasts.

“When it comes to the relationship between school breakfast and body weight, our study suggests that two breakfasts are better than none,” said study author and Rudd Center director Marlene Schwartz, PhD.

To conduct the study, researchers examined a sample of 584 middle school students from 12 schools. The students belonged to an urban school district that provides free access to lunch and breakfast. Over the course of two years, from 5th grade in 2011–2012 to 7th grade in 2013–2014, researchers recorded students’ breakfast-eating locations, patterns and weight changes. Despite the additional breakfast calories, over the course of two years there was no significant difference between the weight gain of middle school students who ate two breakfasts and the weight gain of all the other students.

Because one in five children in the U.S. are food insecure and may not get breakfast before they go to school, it’s good to see that school breakfast, and even better, daily breakfast in the classroom, is a win for all students. Find out more about school breakfast programs and ending childhood hunger here.