The international scientific community is unanimous in believing that a healthy eating in childhood it is essential for the growth and health of the child and is essential for establishing healthy eating habits that will influence the health of the adult man. Unfortunately, this has happened in recent decades a rapid increase in the prevalence of obesity and disease correlated to it, a phenomenon that also involves the developmental age in a worrying way: in Italy the values of the prevalence of obesity in school-age children are among the highest in Europe with high interregional variability, lower percentages in northern Italy and higher in southern Italy. The data provided by OKkio alla Salute, the national surveillance system of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, indicate that in Italy about 30% of school-age children are overweight or obese. This percentage grows in the South to reach 44% in Campania and decreases in the northern regions.
Among the causes attributed to this phenomenon the poor adherence to the Mediterranean diet in childhood is among the most studied topics in recent years. The consumption of foods of plant origin, typical of the Mediterranean diet, is decreasing; on the contrary, that of products of animal origin is increasing, especially in the countries of southern Europe. Confirmation of the critical issues of low consumption of plant-based foods observed in the developmental age are also underlined by OKkio alla Salute. The results of the 2016 survey involved a sample of 48.946 children from all Italian regions. 20% of parentsi stated it's own children do not consume fruit and/or vegetables on a daily basis.
In this scenario, the family assumes a fundamental role, in fact there are numerous studies that confirm how the eating habits shared by the family nucleus influence the choices of children. The process of observation and imitation which takes the name of learning theory Commitment proposed by Albert Bandura, argues that learning does not involve only direct contact with objects, but also occurs through indirect experiences, developed through the observation of other people. From this we understand how the availability in the home of a wide variety of food products and the variety of preparations helps to overcome the barriers to the consumption of certain foods, especially fruit and vegetables. This doesn't always happen though, some parents do monotonous feeding consuming a narrow range of foods and in doing so they limit their children's exposure to new flavors, other times parents adopt wrong strategies, such as forcing them to eat certain foods or promising rewards, which can have opposite effects to those hoped.
But then what to do? Good food practices like having a breakfast, consume a snack adequate to the needs and do physical activity, are undoubtedly a useful means to prevent the onset of eating disorders and improve school performance in children.
A document on breakfast produced by the Italian Society of Human Nutrition (SINU) and the Italian Society of Food Sciences (SISA) reports that: "Scientific evidence today agrees in promoting and supporting the concept that a balanced breakfast, be it regular habit from early childhood and that it remains so even in adolescence, favors the development of a good state of nutrition and health and their maintenance over the years. To this must be added, as demonstrated by numerous studies on breakfast and school cognitive performance, children who eat breakfast have a greater ability to be focused, they pay more attention and are more vigilant than their peers who do not pay attention, they also perform better in school and have higher grades.
However, despite breakfast being one of the staple meals, it is often skipped by school-age children. The OKkio alla Salute survey revealed that the 9% of Italian children aged 6 and 10 skip breakfast and 31% eat an inadequate breakfast, i.e. unbalanced in terms of carbohydrates and proteins. Furthermore, the research has highlighted that the mother's low level of education is associated with a higher percentage of children who skip breakfast and adds that the percentage of children who regularly eat breakfast is higher in the northern regions Italy compared to some southern regions. Today, scientific research tells us that skipping breakfast not only favors the risk of not covering the daily nutritional needs, but also exposes children to a higher feeling of hunger in the rest of the morning. This mechanism often leads to the consumption of foods with a higher energy density which can contribute to the increase in body weight.
Having established the benefits of breakfast, the question that arises spontaneously is: which breakfast to recommend?
The authors of the shared document on breakfast (SINU-SISA) suggest that the breakfast must be balanced by preferring foods rich in carbohydrates with a low glycemic index and fiberIn fact, it has been seen that children who consume whole grains for breakfast not only have a better supply of vitamins and minerals and a lower sodium intake, but they tend to be of normal weight more frequently than their peers who do not consume them. It is well known that the intake of fiber is accompanied by a greater feeling of satiety, which avoids or reduces the intake of abundant snacks during the day. On the contrary, the habitual consumption of foods with a high glycemic index determines, due to the effects on glycemia and on the stimulation of insulin secretion, a greater risk of metabolic syndrome.
In the Italian tradition, the foods most frequently eaten for breakfast are cereals, milk, its derivatives and fruit. Wholemeal bread and wholemeal cereals in general are preferable to refined ones, due to the higher content of fiber, vitamins and mineral salts. Milk or yoghurt (for the latter preferring natural and making sure it is free of added sugar) are foods rich in essential nutrients and contribute significantly to covering energy needs and macro- and micronutrients in all stages of life and especially in the developmental age. For a more energetic breakfast and to satisfy those who prefer a savory breakfast, even milk derivatives such as cheese and butter can be considered provided that their high energy power and their contribution in saturated fat and salt are taken into account. The consumption of fruit for breakfast would be desirable both for low consumption in the younger age groups and for providing important nutrients such as water, vitamins and bioactive components. Separate discussion for fruit juices which in addition to not containing the amount of fiber of the whole fruit often are confused with fruit nectars which, in addition to the blended pulp or fruit juice, contain water and possibly sugar or other sweeteners, additives such as thickeners, acidifiers and flavourings. If you opt for this choice, prefer those with 100% fruit, without the addition of preservatives, sweeteners or flavourings. Finally, we must not demonize the consumption of other foods at breakfast such as tarts, snacks, yeasts, eggs and cured meats which can occasionally provide supplements by adding variety to breakfast.
In conclusion, the importance of the role of breakfast not only for benefits in developmental age, but also for those that can be earned in adulthood, they represent a valid reason for this food practice to be carried out. Sweet or savoury, as long as it's balanced, breakfast is a fundamental meal of the day as it is capable of regulating important mechanisms of hunger and satiety control which can cascade influencing the other meals of the day, thus also contributing to counteracting overweight and obesity in children.
