Evaluation of the meal variety with eating breakfast together as a family in Korean children: based on 2013 ~2015 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey / 한국영양학회지

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to identify the nutritional status in Korean children eating breakfast together as a family or skipping breakfast from the 2013 ~ 2015 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). METHODS: A total of 1,393 subjects (boys = 731, girls = 662), aged 6 ~ 11 years, were presented with a 24 hr-recall method, and classified according to their eating breakfast together as a family or skipping breakfast; and eating breakfast together as a family (EBF group; boys = 580, girls = 548), eating breakfast alone (EBA group; boys = 100, girls = 67), and skipping breakfast (SB group; boys = 51, girls = 47). RESULTS: In the boys, the SB group had a significantly lower carbohydrate (p = 0.0198) and vitamin C (p = 0.0219) density, and a higher fat (p = 0.0020) density than the EBF and EBA groups. In both boys and girls, the EBF and EBA groups showed a significantly larger number of dishes in breakfast than the SB group (p < 0.0001, respectively). In boys, the EBF group showed a significantly higher number of foods in breakfast than the EBA and SB groups (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Children eating breakfast together as a family may be associated with a variety of food intake than children eating breakfast alone and skipping breakfast.