“BREAKFAST”
The “Breakfast” Working Group is an intersociety group of experts from the Italian Society of Human Nutrition (SINU) and the Italian Society of Food Science (SISA); the Working Group started in 2017 with the following main objectives:
- to describe the scientific evidence about the benefits of breakfast and different breakfast patterns on health and prevention of chronic diseases
- to provide an update tool for doctors, nutritionists and dietitians involved in research, services and patient care
- to define nutritional characteristics and quality of breakfast in the Mediterranean diet pattern and the different food consumption patterns
- to develop a document for the public to promote the regular consumption of healthy breakfast
Keywords: Breakfast and health effects; Breakfast models and chronic diseases; Nutritional value of breakfast; Recommendations for breakfast
The SINU – SISA intersociety working group: Alessandra Bordoni, Giulia Cairella, Angelo Campanozzi, Valeria del Balzo, Erminia Ebner, Daniela Erba, Francesca Garbagnati, Andrea Ghiselli, Michelangelo Giampietro, Emanuela Greco, Bruna Guida, Daniela Martini, Silvia Migliaccio, Giuditta Pagliai, Alessandro Pinto, Giuditta Pagliai, Luca Piretta, Domenico Rendina, Laura Rossi, Irene Rutigliano, Paola Sabino, Francesca Scazzina, Umberto Scognamiglio, Francesco Sofi, Pasquale Strazzullo, Marcello Ticca, Maria Lorena Tondi, Salvatore Vaccaro
WORK ORGANIZATION
A systematic review was initially carried out on the available databases and for relevant abstracts the extensive works were recovered, thanks to the collaboration of Paola Sabino and Francesca Garbagnati.
Both the abstracts and full papers have been archived for general use in the special “The Breakfast” folder of Dropbox.
The studies considered relevant were: RCTs, systematic reviews, prospective cohort studies published in peer-reviewed journals in the last 5 years, and studies promoted by Public Health Institutions.
A total of 1,700 abstracts were selected for the five areas of work considered by the experts:
- BREAKFAST: ITS DECLINATIONS AND IMPACT ON HEALTH
- NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF BREAKFAST
- BREAKFAST AND MODIFICATION OF HEALTH STATUS
- BREAKFAST FOODS
- BREAKFAST IN SPECIFIC AGE GROUPS OR PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
The text was written based on 300 selected full papers, and documents like LARN and the national and international guidelines for healthy eating were used as a reference.
The document has been divided into four chapters, each with its own bibliography resulting from the systematic literature search. Practical examples of different breakfasts are proposed, highlighting the possibility that breakfast can be adapted according to individual preferences but always within the framework of a balanced and adequate diet.