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Eating Breakfast: Effects of
the School Breakfast Program
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Started as a pilot in 1966, the School Breakfast Program (SBP) was
designed to provide funding for meals served to children in poor areas and
areas where children had to travel a great distance to school. On small
farms in rural communities, many young children ate an early breakfast,
performed their chores, and, after a lengthy school bus trip, arrived at
school hungry. In 1975, Congress made the SBP permanent, with the stated
objective that the program be made "available in all schools where it
is needed to provide adequate nutrition for children in attendance."
In recent years, researchers have become interested in the question of
whether the availability of SBP at school increased the likelihood of a
child eating breakfast.
The answer to that question depends on how breakfast is defined and
also upon family income. The 1992 School Nutrition Dietary Assessment
Study (SNDA-1) defined breakfast as eating any food containing at least 50
calories. Using this very broad definition of breakfast, the SNDA-1 study
found that the availability of a SBP at school did not increase the
likelihood of a child eating breakfast. Commentors on this finding have
expressed an interest in whether the finding would be the same if
breakfast was defined more substantively, for example, as providing more
than a minimum level of food energy. This study is a reanalysis of data
from SNDA-1 and examines this and related questions.
A review of the literature on breakfast consumption shows that
breakfast is defined in a variety of ways. Studies that examine the
prevalence of eating (or skipping) breakfast typically use a simplistic
definition of breakfast, based either on reports of whether breakfast was
eaten or on dietary recall data on whether any food or beverage was
consumed. In contrast, studies that assess the effects of eating breakfast
on various performance measures usually define breakfast more
substantively, (for example, providing some minimum level of food energy).
The analysis conducted in this study builds on these two strands of the
literature and uses three alternate definitions of breakfast:
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Consumption of any food or beverage
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Breakfast intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA)
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Consumption of foods from at least two of five main food groups and
intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the RDA
As the definition of breakfast becomes more robust, the percentage of
students who eat breakfast declines. Almost 9 of 10 students consumed any
food or beverage, but only 6 of 10 students consumed food from at least
two of the main food groups and had breakfast intake of food energy
greater than 10 percent of the RDA.
Three important findings from the analysis of the effects of the SBP
are the following:
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If breakfast is defined as any food or beverage consumed, the SBP is
not associated with an increased likelihood of eating breakfast. These
results are consistent with previous studies that found that the SPB
had no effect on the likelihood of eating any food or food with a
minimum number of calories.
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For low-income students, as the definition of breakfast becomes more
robust, the SBP is associated with an increased likelihood of eating
breakfast.
When breakfast is defined as intake of food energy greater than 10
percent of the RDA, the likelihood of eating breakfast is significantly
higher for low-income students attending schools with the SBP than for
similar students attending schools without it (74 percent versus 63
percent).
When breakfast is defined as consumption of food from two or more
food groups and intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the
RDA, the likelihood of eating breakfast is significantly higher for
low-income students attending schools with the SBP than for similar
students attending schools without it (67 percent versus 55 percent).
When breakfast is defined as intake of food energy greater than 10
percent of the RDA, the likelihood of eating breakfast is significantly
higher for low-income elementary students attending schools with the SBP
than for similar elementary students attending schools without it (82
percent versus 66 percent).
When breakfast is defined as consumption of food from two or more
food groups and intake of food energy greater than 10 percent of the
RDA, the likelihood of eating breakfast is significantly higher for
low-income elementary students attending schools with the SBP than for
similar elementary students attending schools without it (77 percent
versus 62 percent).
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