The importance of breakfast in meeting daily recommended calcium intake in a group of schoolchildren

• Published in: Journal of the American College of Nutrition 1998-02, Vol.17 (1), p.19-24
• Main Authors: Ortega, R.M. (Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.), Requejo, A.M, Lopez-Sobaler, A.M, Andres, P, Quintas, M.E, Navia, B, Izquierdo, M, Rivas, T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; breakfast; CALCIO; CALCIUM; calcium intake; Calcium, Dietary - administration & dosage; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Dairy Products; DIET; DIETA; Energy Intake; ENFANT EN AGE SCOLAIRE; ESPAGNE; ESPANA; Female; Food; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; INGESTION DE NUTRIENTES; INGESTION DE SUBSTANCES NUTRITIVES; Male; MEAL PATTERNS; Medical sciences; Milk; MILK PRODUCTS; MINERAL NUTRIENTS; NINOS DE EDAD ESCOLAR; NUTRIENT INTAKE; NUTRIENTES MINERALES; Nutrition Policy; Nutritional survey. Food supply and nutritional requirement; PAUTAS ALIMENTARIAS; PRODUCTOS LACTEOS; PRODUIT LAITIER; REGIME ALIMENTAIRE; SCHEMA ALIMENTAIRE; SCHOOL CHILDREN; schoolchildren; SPAIN; SUBSTANCE NUTRITIVE MINERALE
• ISSN: 0731-5724; 1541-1087
• DOI: 10.1080/07315724.1998.10718731

Objective: To evaluate the breakfast intake of calcium and milk products and to determine whether these correlate with total intake of both calcium and milk products. Methods: Food taken at breakfast and throughout the day was recorded using a 7 consecutive day food record in 200 schoolchildren aged between 9 and 13 years. Results: 65.3% of boys and 80.5% of girls showed intakes of calcium which were lower than recommended. Milk products were the foods most frequently included in breakfast (95.5% of subjects included them in this meal). A relationship was seen between energy provided by breakfast and the quantities of milk products (r=0.5735) and calcium (r=0.6908) taken at this meal. A relationship was also seen between energy provided by breakfast and daily intake of milk products (r=0.4633) and calcium (r=0.4954). The percentage of intakes of calcium lower than those recommended decreased when breakfast provided greater than or equal to 20% of total energy intake, and when the consumption of milk products at breakfast was greater than the 50th percentile (200 ml). Subjects with breakfast milk product intakes greater than or equal to 200 ml showed higher intakes of the same over the rest of the day (233.3 +/- 140.4 g) than did those who took lesser quantities of these foods at breakfast (161.5 +/- 100.6 g). Further, those who took greater than or equal to 25% of the recommended intake of calcium at breakfast showed greater intakes of the same over the rest of the day (600.4 +/- 213.8 mg compared to 510.8 +/- 200.7 mg in subjects with lower calcium intakes). Conclusions: The intake of milk products (r=0.7587) and calcium (r=0.7223) at breakfast correlates with the consumption of these foods in the whole diet. However, the total daily intake of milk products and calcium does not depend solely on breakfast intake. Subjects with the greatest intakes at breakfast also showed greater intakes over the rest of the day (r=0.3953 for milk products and r=0.4122 for calcium)