The relationship between breakfast and whole diet energy profiles in a group of preschool children

The energy profile of the diet of the Spanish population is imbalanced, showing excessive intake of fats and protein and insufficient intake of carbohydrates. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this imbalance also existed in 110 preschool children between 2 and 6 years of age, and to examine the relationship between their breakfast and whole diet energy profiles. The results obtained show that subjects who consumed less carbohydrate (<50% of energy intake) or more fat (>35% of total intake) at breakfast showed poorer energy profiles and poorer fat quality over their whole diet. Significant and positive correlations were found between energy supplied at breakfast by protein, fats, carbohydrates, saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and the same parameters measured for the whole diet.