Breakfast Cereal May Help Keep Girls Lean

We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day -- and new research gives us another reason why.

Maryland Medical Research Institute researchers found that eating cereal at breakfast may help adolescent girls stay healthy and of normal weight.

The findings are published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Using data from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Growth Health Study, the researchers examined breakfast and cereal consumption of more than 2,300 girls over a 10-year period starting when they were 9 or 10 years old.

The researchers found that, as the girls moved through their teen years, those who ate cereal had a lower body mass index. They also found cereal consumption had positive effects on the girls' nutrient intake, particularly in higher levels of calcium and fiber and lower levels of fat and cholesterol.

Study author Bruce Barton said the message for teenage girls is that not eating breakfast is the "worst thing" they can do.

Researchers said that eating cereal might have more impacts on girls' diets. For example, other healthful foods are usually eaten with cereal such as milk and juice and the cereal may replace other less nutritious food choices.

"Cereal consumption may be one component of a healthful lifestyle that helps adolescent girls to maintain adequate nutrient intake and a healthful BMI," the researchers wrote in a news release.

The study was supported by General Mills Inc. and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

Another study published in the journal found a link between breakfast consumption and body mass index in adult men and women.

Michigan State University and Kellogg Co. found that adults with a BMI higher than 25 were more likely than the general population to eat prepackaged types of cereal.

"The benefits of breakfast meals and choice of breakfast foods seems to be important in counteracting overweight in the United States," the researchers wrote in a news release.