Are You A Breakfast Skipper?

12 January 2011

Are You A Breakfast Skipper?

What makes a breakfast skipper?

· As many as one in four consumers skip breakfast at some stage during the week.

· Alarmingly as many as one in six adults never eat breakfast.

· More consumers are missing breakfast today than they were six years ago.

· 21% of adults miss breakfast at the weekend.

· Women skip breakfast more than men. Three in ten men versus five in ten women.

· Younger adults show the greatest tendency to skip breakfast mainly due they say, to ‘not enough time’ or choosing to ‘sleep longer’.

· The presence of children in the household also relates to skipping breakfast as many consumers claim they are too busy getting the children ready for school before going to work.

· One in four people that work miss breakfast compared to one in five of those not working.

· 36% of consumers agree that skipping breakfast leads to overeating later in the day.

· 32% of ten to sixteen year old children living in England do not eat breakfast before leaving home.

· 7% of ten to sixteen year old children living in England never eat breakfast on a school day.

About the breakfast market

· More than half of consumers have at least three different types of cereal in their cupboard.

· The UK breakfast cereal market is worth £1.5 billion.

· Cereal is the most popular breakfast food eaten by children (90%) closely followed by toast eaten by one in four children aged between seven and ten.

· Just over two thirds of seven to ten year olds consider breakfast to be an important meal – marginally higher than the average adult.

· Cooked breakfasts tend to be reserved for the weekend.

· In the UK, we eat 12 million large loaves of bread every day.

· A serving of toast uses approximately 25g of cereals.

· Most bread is made from wheat, though barley, oats and rye are used in some speciality loaves.

Healthy breakfasts = Healthy nation

· Experts claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and plays a key role in helping to tackle obesity, the NHS says, “eating breakfast has long term health benefits.  It can reduce the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes”.

· One of the eight healthy eating tips from the Food Standards Agency is that you should not skip breakfast.  However, one in ten consumers claim to skip meals to keep their weight down.

· 58% of consumers agree that eating breakfast helps to get the day started and 26% say they can’t concentrate if they don’t eat breakfast.

· Breakfast helps to improve concentration, memory and mental functions.

·mResearch shows that our healthiest food choices are made at breakfast.