Increasing the frequency of breakfast consumption: A systematic review of the

literature. Emily Kothe & Barbara Mullan

School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Australia

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

References

Ten studies met these criteria and were reviewed.

Included Papers: • Ask, Hernes, Aarek, Johannessen, & Haugen (2006)• Bayne-Smith, Fardy, Azzollini,Magel, Schmitz, & Agin (2004)• Crawford (2007)• Cripensek, Singh, Bertstein &McLaughlin (2006)• Devaney & Stuart (1998)• Kennedy, Hajek, Morris, Linnell, &Gines (2005)• Martens, Van Assema, Paulussen, Van Breukelen, & Brug (2007)• Radcliffe, Ogden, Welsh, Carroll,Coyne, & Craig (2005)• Shemilt, Harvey, Shepstone, Swift,Reading, Mugford (2004)• Shi-Chang, Xin-Wei, Shui-Yang, ShuMing, Sen-Hai, Aldinger (2004)

Three studies reported an increase in breakfast consumption at the conclusion of the intervention. The remaining seven studies reported non-significant results.

Four studies considered the provision of breakfast to study participants with no persuasive component. All four studies found no evidence of an effect of school feeding on breakfast eating frequency.

Two studies investigated the effect of interventions that included school feeding with persuasive messages. One study demonstrated an increase in breakfast consumption compared to the control group.

Four studies evaluated the effect of persuasive messages without food provision on breakfast consumption. Two studies demonstrated increases in breakfast consumption in intervention participants.

There were methodological flaws in most of the studies, including small sample sizes, problematic methodology, and lack of control or baseline measurements.

Ultimately, the balance of evidence was inconclusive. While interventions led to gains in breakfast consumption more research is needed.

Future research should seek to clarify the effect of breakfast eating interventions on breakfast eating and to determine the intervention strategies which are most effective by building on the successes of past interventions.

Such research should include longer follow-up, more rigorous reporting of results and intervention design, and the use of randomised controlled trail protocols.

Eating breakfast has been linked to improvements in physical, and psychosocial health outcomes (Rampersaud, Pereira, Girard, Adams, & Metzl, 2005). However, a large number of individuals do not regularly consume breakfast (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997).

A variety of interventions have been designed and implemented with the goal of increasing the consumption of breakfast.

These interventions range from school feeding programs, where breakfast is provided to studies for free or at a subsidised price, to purely psychosocial interventions which have aimed at increasing breakfast consumption by increasing positive beliefs about breakfast.

Despite the number of breakfast eating interventions that have been implemented in recent decades, few have been subject to such appraisal. A systematic review of interventions designed to increase the consumption of breakfast in a non-clinical sample was conducted.

An electronic search was conducted of the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINHAL databases, and all studies that reported the evaluation of an appropriate intervention and breakfast eating frequency at follow-up were included in the review.

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