Breakfast in the United States: Food and Nutrient Intakes in Relation to Diet Quality in National Health and Examination Survey 2011–2014. A Study from the International Breakfast Research Initiative

Abstract

The contribution of breakfast to diet quality (DQ) can inform future dietary guidelines. This study examined breakfast nutrition in relation to overall DQ, using dietary data from the first reported day of the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2014 (n = 14,488). Relative DQ was assessed using the Nutrient Rich Foods Index (NRF9.3) and the USDA Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI 2015). The sample was stratified by NRF9.3 tertiles and by age and socioeconomic groups. Four out of 5 NHANES participants had breakfast on the day of the interview. Breakfast provided 19–22% of dietary energy depending on age. Breakfast intakes of complex carbohydrates and total sugars were proportionately higher and intakes of protein and fats were lower relative to breakfast energy intakes. Breakfast provided more that 20% of daily intakes of B vitamins, vitamins A and D, folate, calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium. Eating breakfast was associated with higher NRF9.3 DQ scores. Breakfasts associated with the top tertile of NRF9.3 scores had less added sugars and fats than those associated with the bottom tertile. Such breakfasts had more fruit and juices, more whole grain products, more milk and yogurt and less meat and eggs. Breakfast patterns and food choices that favored fruit, whole grains and dairy were associated with healthiest diets.

Breakfast skipping is related to inadequacy of vitamin and mineral intakes among Japanese female junior high school students: a cross-sectional study

“…In the present study, the rate of breakfast skipping among female students was 17·2 %; this result is in agreement with those published from other countries including the USA (18·0 %) (39) , UK (19·9 %) (21) and Belgium (16·9 %) (22) . However, the rate of breakfast skipping in the present study was inconsistent with the rate previously reported for Japanese adolescents (2·3 %) (23) .…”

“…The habitual intakes of vitamin B 6 , folate and Mg were higher among breakfast consumers than among breakfast skippers, which was consistent with the result that the contribution of vitamin B 6 , folate and Mg intakes at breakfast was reported to be approximately 20 % of total intake of these nutrients (39) . However, the nutrient intake adequacy of vitamin B 6 , folate and Mg intakes was not different between the two groups both in crude model and adjusted model analyses.…”

Food Combinations in Relation to the Quality of Overall Diet and Individual Meals in Japanese Adults: A Nationwide Study

“…In this study, we used the Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI-2015) [32][33][34] and Nutrient-Rich Food Index 9.3 (NRF9.3) [35][36][37][38] as measures of diet quality. The HEI-2015 is a 100 point scale to assess compliance with the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans [39], with a higher score indicating a better quality of overall diet.…”

Changes in association between school foods and child and adolescent dietary quality during implementation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010

“…We conducted a feasibility analysis to ascertain if we could detect a difference in nutritional density of school foods in children's 24-hour dietary recalls. We used a peer-reviewed method (41,42) to calculated the nutrient density of school-aged children's weekday lunches in NHANES 2009-2016 dietary recalls. We used survey regression to compare changes in nutrient density of lunches from school cafeterias versus any other source.…”