Canadian students are still found to be skipping breakfast, despite them having a widespread availability of school meal programs. There is an urgent need to create awareness about the benefits of these programs among the students.
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‘Breakfast skipping is still highly prevalent among Canadian adolescents, despite having knowledge about a healthy morning meal.
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It found that 39 percent of students reported eating breakfast fewer than three days in a typical school week.
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The findings were consistent with national data that showed nationwide, 48.5 percent of adolescents skipped breakfast at least once a week.
"In spite of the widely-acknowledged value of youth having a healthy morning meal, breakfast skipping is highly prevalent among Canadian adolescents," said Katelyn Godin, a doctoral candidate at Waterloo and lead author of the study.
"While we do know that breakfast programs are having a positive impact, with one-fifth of adolescents reporting eating breakfast at school once-a-week, there is still room for improvement."
Godin said breakfast programs are not reaching their full potential in Canada due to a lack of social awareness about their diverse benefits, lingering social stigma and limited economic support for the programs.
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