Youths too busy for breakfast at risk

♦ Young people are risking malnutrition by skipping breakfast, with girls more likely to miss the first meal of the day than boys.

King’s College London found that 14 per cent of boys and 19 per cent of girls never eat breakfast, while around half of both sexes skipped the meal at least once every few days.

Researchers found that those who missed the meal were more likely to be suffering from deficiencies in iron, calcium and iodine. A third did not meet even the lowest recommended nutrient intake, while one in five were calcium and iodine-deficient. In contrast, fewer than 5 per cent who ate a daily breakfast were deficient.

The research was based on a survey of 1,600 children who were asked to keep a food diary for four days,then had their nutrition levels monitored. Breakfast was recorded as eating more than 100 calories from 6am to 9am.

Dr Gerda Pot, senior author of the study, published in the British Journal of Nutrition, said: “This is evidence that breakfast is key to ensure that their children are getting the nutrition they need.”