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  • Pediatric Short Communication
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Skipping breakfast and overweight in 2- and 5-year-old Dutch children—the GECKO Drenthe cohort

International Journal of Obesity volume 38, pages 569–571 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

Skipping breakfast is associated with higher BMI in children aged 5 years and older. However, not much is known about this association in younger children. In the Dutch GECKO Drenthe birth cohort we examined the association between breakfast skipping and objectively measured overweight at the age of 2 (n=1488) and 5 (n=1366) years. At 2 years, 124 (8.3%) children were overweight and 44 (3.0%) did not eat breakfast daily. At 5 years, 180 (13.2%) children were overweight and 73 (5.3%) did not eat breakfast daily. Children belonging to families of non-Dutch origin, those with lower educated parents and those with single parents skipped breakfast more often. Breakfast skipping in 2- and 5-year-olds is rare in the Netherlands. We found no association between skipping breakfast and overweight, neither at age 2 (odds ratio (OR): 1.85 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.61–5.64)) nor at age 5 (OR: 0.46 (95% CI: 0.19–1.11)). Also the type of breakfast was not related to overweight at 5 years. An explanation for this finding might be that skipping breakfast is not (yet) an issue in these children.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the children and their parents for participation in this study and the staff of the municipal health service for measuring the children. LK participated in the study design, carried out measurements, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. JP, PS, RS and EC participated in the study design and in the interpretation of the data and critically supervised the writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    L K Küpers, J J de Pijper, R P Stolk & E Corpeleijn

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    P J J Sauer

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  1. L K Küpers
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  2. J J de Pijper
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  3. P J J Sauer
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  4. R P Stolk
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  5. E Corpeleijn
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Correspondence to L K Küpers.

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Küpers, L., de Pijper, J., Sauer, P. et al. Skipping breakfast and overweight in 2- and 5-year-old Dutch children—the GECKO Drenthe cohort. Int J Obes 38, 569–571 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2013.194

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