This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. One intriguing line of research that may have broad public health application in this regarding is the role of breakfast habits on rates of obesity. For a number of behavioral and physiological reasons, the breakfast meal may be of unique importance with respect to appetite control, dietary quality, and obesity risk. In children and adolescents, breakfast skipping prevalence is reported to range from 12 to 34% and to increase with age. Numerous observational studies have explored the association between breakfast frequency and risk of obesity, with most noting an inverse association. owever, only a few small short-term randomized trials have been conducted on this topic. Therfore, to fully address whether the frequency of eating breakfast, and the type of breakfast eaten, may play an important role in energy balance, dietary quality, and obesity risk, we propse to conduct a 2-center randomized crossover trial of breakfast intervention in a group of at-risk-for-overweight (85th-94th age/gender appropriate BMI percentiles) and overweight (95th and ablove BMI percentiles) 14-16 year old Latino boys who habitually consume breakfast less than four times per week. THe intervention will include supplying breakfast foods, along with instruction, over 3 week treatment periods so that we can evaluate effects of both breakfast frequency (7days/wk v. usual intake) and quality (whole foods balanced v. highly processed meals) on various outcomes. We hypothesize that increased breakfast frequency and quality will result in improved metabolic, behavioral, and psycological outcomes.
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