The extent to which breakfast covers the morning energy expenditure of adolescents with varying levels of physical activity.

Background: Energy intake at breakfast affects the performance of creativity tests, memory recall and voluntary physical endurance in children before lunch, and food craving during the whole day.

Objectives: To assess the adequacy of breakfast energy supply (BES) and energy expenditure (EE) in adolescents during a schoolday without or with 2 h of physical education lesson (PEL) in the morning.

Design: Sixty adolescents (four groups of 14-16 boys and girls aged 12-16 y) participated in a cross-sectional study. Activity patterns and EE were determined by whole-body calorimetry during 36 h and in free-living conditions during 5 days using both a diary and the validated heart rate recording method. BES was determined by weighing individual foods. The pyloric energy flow was assessed using a model of fractional stomach emptying.

Results: BES averaged 24.9% (s.d.=6.1) of daily EE in the four groups of subjects. It covered the mean morning EE on a schoolday without PEL, but not in a schoolday with 2 h of PEL in any group. When PEL took place from 8-10 am the cumulative EE exceeded the cumulative pyloric energy flow after 105-150 min, that is during the PEL session, and the energy deficit increased until lunch. With a light breakfast (BES-1 s.d.) energy deficiency happened after 90 min.

Conclusion: The results stress the need for a heavy breakfast for children and adolescents on the days with PEL in the morning, and a carbohydrate rich snack at 10 am to improve attention, memory and willing participation in physical activities.