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It helps to prevent obesity
59% of European men, and 48% of European women, are either overweight or obese.

It can help to decrease the risk of heart disease and improve general health
At 21% of all male deaths, and 22% of all female deaths, coronary heart disease is the biggest cause of death in Europe.

It increases cognitive ability and concentration
Almost 94 million Europeans are currently in primary, secondary or tertiary education.

And it helps to boost energy levels and kick-start your metabolism.
Only 15% of Europeans are active in sports, and the average EU citizen spends more than six hours per day seated.

For more information, please download the “Breakfast is Best” related statistics here.

In Europe, we spend an enormous amount of time and money addressing issues like obesity, educational performance and safety in the workplace. We try one diet after another, we prescribe massive amounts of medication, we constantly discuss and revise school curriculums – we do an enormous amount to address these issues, with varying degrees of success.

A healthy breakfast provides essential nutrients and fluids at a critical time of day and there is evidence that regular breakfast consumption may even decrease the risk of heart disease.

The Facts

1. Wholegrain cereals and heart health
Five very large cohort studies carried out in the US, Norway and Finland based on over 200 000 men and women all showed that consuming relatively large amounts of wholegrain cereals led to significantly lower rates of coronary heart disease (CHD).
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2002) 56, 1–14

2. Eating patterns and CHD & diabetes risk reduction
Men and women who eat breakfast between two and 6 times a week have a 22 % lower chance of heart failure, and those who eat them up to once a week have a 14 percent lower chance.
Djoussé L, Gaziano JM. Breakfast cereals and risk of heart failure in the Physicians' Health Study I. Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:2080-5.

3. Eating pattern, quantities and death
In a study published in the AJCN, researchers analysed information collected from 86,190 male doctors who participated in the Physicians' Health Study. At the start of the study in 1982, about 19% of the men reported eating about one serving of breakfast cereal per day and about 12% said they ate one or more servings of whole-grain cereal per day. After an average of five and a half years of follow-up, researchers found that the more breakfasts containing fruit, some dairy and whole-grain products the men ate, the lower their risk of death from heart disease or any other cause was.
Liu S, Sesso HD, Manson JE, Willett WC, Buring JE. Is intake of breakfast cereals related to total and cause-specific mortality in men? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 77, No. 3, 594-599, March 2003

4. Breakfast and diabetes
A study conducted by the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA), which started in 1992 revealed that out of a sample of 3800 people of varying ethnic groups, aged between 25-37 years, that those who ate breakfast were 37% to 55% less likely to develop insulin resistance syndrome - frequently a precursor to diabetes - and to become obese. They are also possibly less likely to develop heart disease, since diabetes often leads to heart disease, Pr Van Horn says.
Department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University

Eating breakfast regularly allows for greater control over appetite, thereby assisting weight control and helping to prevent obesity

A regular breakfast increases cognitive ability and concentration, which helps to increase children’s educational performance and improve health and safety in the workplace.

The Facts

1. Effects on children and education
A study on 29 children tested throughout the morning having different breakfasts each day provides evidence that a high carbohydrate breakfast maintains mental performance over the morning, when compared to having no breakfast and only a sugary drink.
Appetite. 2003 Dec;41(3):329-31. Breakfast reduces declines in attention and memory over the morning in School children

a. Breakfast types: once a week for 3 weeks, children consumed one of two breakfasts or no breakfast and then completed a battery of cognitive tests. Results from 9 to 11 year-olds replicated previous findings showing that breakfast intake enhances cognitive performance, particularly on tasks requiring processing of a complex visual display.
Physiol. Behav. 2005 Aug 7;85(5):635-45. Effect of breakfast composition on cognitive processes in elementary school children

b. Absenteeism: children who eat breakfast were observed to be less likely to be late or absent from school classes (Murphy et al (1998); Whalstrom and Begalle (1999)).

c. Poor nutrition and energy impact: study found that inadequate nutrition and, more particularly, the fact that children leave home without having breakfast and therefore cannot mobilize enough energy in the morning to cope with the demands of school activities.
British Journal of Nutrition (2004), 92, Suppl. 2, S227–S232. Effects of diet on behaviour and cognition in children.

d. Better memory: Pollitt and co-workers found that healthy 9-11 year old children made fewer errors in memory tests when breakfast was eaten than when breakfast was skipped.
Pollitt E. JADA (1995) 95: 1134-1139. In: Breakfast Matters: benefits of breakfast to cognitive performance and health. Rebecca Mathews (1996) Kellogg Canada.

e. Problem Solving: Children who skip breakfast are not as efficient in the selection of critical information in problem-solving as their peers who have had breakfast.
Pollitt et al (1981). Brief fasting, stress and cognition in children. Am. J. of Clin. Nutr. 34: 1526-1533; Pollitt et al (1982). Fasting and cognitive performance. Journal of Psychiatric Research 17: 169-174.

2. Effect on adults and the Workplace

a. Memory function: Memory function seems to be correlated to blood glucose concentration and whilst failure to eat breakfast does not affect intelligence test performance, it does positively affects memory tasks, such as word recall.
Am J Clin Nutr. 1998 Apr;67(4):772S-778S. Breakfast, blood glucose, and cognition. Benton D, Parker PY

Breakfast helps to boost energy levels and kick start your metabolism which in turn helps to keep you active and fit, as well as curbing hunger.