Background & Objectives: Nutrition as an important factor in body health can affect student’s educational progress at school. Studies show that breakfast and snack consumption has an important effect on students’ learning capacity. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate pattern of breakfast and snack consumption and their effective factors among primary school students in Qazvin. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 1300, 7-11 years old students in primary schools of Qazvin in 1387-8. Data were gathered through interview and using a questionnaire. X2 test was applied to analyze data using SPSS software. Results: 89.5 percent of students had eaten their breakfast before going to school. The most important reason for not having breakfast was late waking up in the morning. 85.4 % of the students had bread and cheese and only 20.1% had milk for breakfast. In addition, only 8.5% of students have eaten no snack during school time. Cakes and cookies was the most frequent snack consumed (85.1 %) among students. Conclusion: The results of the present study show that most of the students consume breakfast before going to school. Cheese and bread, commonly consumed food in Iranian culture, were the abundant food consumed at breakfast. As milk was less frequently consumed among the students, it is recommended to implement wide ranging educational programs to encourage daily milk consumption.
Rezakhani H, Soheili Azad A, Razaghi M, Nemati A. Pattern of Breakfast and Snack Consumption and Their Effective Factors among Primary School Students, Qazvin. j.health 2012; 2 (4) :57-63 URL: http://healthjournal.arums.ac.ir/article-1-100-en.html