Skipping breakfast is associated with overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Since there is inconsistent data on the link between breakfast consumption and overweight/obesity, this 2020 systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted on observational studies pertinent to the breakfast-weight status association. This article specifically searched for cohort and cross-sectional studies that reported either odds or risk ratio estimates for the association between breakfast skipping and overweight/obesity. In total there were 45 studies included in the meta-analysis, including 36 cross-sectional and 9 cohort studies. Compiling data from the cross-sectional studies, participants who had breakfast less frequently during the week were 48% more likely to be overweight/obese, and showed a 31% higher risk of abdominal obesity, when compared with those who frequently had breakfast. Even in the cohort studies, the low-frequency breakfast consumers were at greater risk of being overweight or obese (relative to high-frequency breakfast consumers). Considering these consistent results in cross-sectional and cohort studies, this meta-analysis concludes that skipping breakfast increases the risk of, and is associated with, overweight/obesity. There is no notable difference in trends among different ages, gender, geography, and economic conditions. [NPID: breakfast, diet, habits, eating, behaviors, behaviours, obesity, obese, overweight, review, meta-analysis, skipping breakfast]

Year: 2020

Reference: Ma, X., Chen, Q., Pu, Y., Guo, M., Jiang, Z., Huang, W., Long, Y., & Xu, Y. (2020). Skipping breakfast is associated with overweight and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obesity research & clinical practice, 14(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orcp.2019.12.002

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