Exploring the role of breakfast in diet quality and meal regularity among female university students

Abstract

Breakfast skipping negatively affects female students’ health, especially during their reproductive years, when their nutritional needs increase and their vulnerability to nutritional deficiencies rises. This study aimed to determine the association between dietary intake, diet quality and meal regularity with breakfast skipping behavior among Malaysian female university students. A cross-sectional survey sample of 162 students aged 18–25 years was analyzed. The majority reported having breakfast skipping behavior (78%), poor diet quality (79%) and irregular lunch (58%) and dinner (53%) meals. Breakfast skipping was significantly associated with lower energy intake (p = 0.035), poor diet quality (p = 0.003), fewer consumption of whole grains (p = 0.005), legumes/nuts (p = 0.002) and milk/milk products (p = 0.019) as well as lunch frequency (p = 0.005). Binary logistic regression revealed that breakfast skippers were less likely to consume whole grain [Adjusted Odds Ratio (95% Confidence Interval) = 0.76 (0.58–0.99); p = 0.045] and lunch [Adjusted Odds Ratio (95% Confidence Interval) = 0.45 (0.26–0.80); p = 0.006] after adjusting for confounders. Breakfast skipping remains prevalent among Malaysian female university students and is associated with poor diet quality, dietary intake, low meal frequency and regularity. Daily breakfast consumption is suggested to improve nutritional status.