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• Posted July 28, 2026

Breakfast Can Help Teens Make Better Food Choices Throughout Their Day, Study Says

Teens who start eating breakfast regularly are more likely to make healthy food choices through the rest of the day, a new study says.

Teenagers who ate breakfast still consumed as many daily calories as those who skipped the morning meal, but were less likely to choose high-sugar or high-fat foods, researchers reported at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition.

“Our findings suggest that adding breakfast, particularly one rich in protein, may be an effective way to improve nutrient intake and diet quality among older adolescents,” lead researcher Emma Brown, a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a news release.

For the new study, researchers recruited 128 young people ages 14 to 21 who reported skipping breakfast at least six times a week.

The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group ate a balanced breakfast every day for six months, the second a high-protein breakfast, and the third continued to skip breakfast as usual.

For the groups eating breakfast, the research team provided meals that included common breakfast foods like burritos, quesadillas, egg scrambles and smoothies. The balanced breakfast meals contained around 15 grams of protein, and the high-protein around 30 grams.

“Although most Americans think that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, there isn’t a lot of evidence to support this idea,” Brown said. “We wanted to see whether consuming a high-protein breakfast would increase nutrient intake and promote healthier eating throughout the day.”

The young people also were regularly asked to report what they’d eaten during the past 24 hours.

Results showed that those eating breakfast consumed fewer desserts, sweets and candy compared to those who skipped breakfast. The high-protein group, in particular, ate less added sugar than the other two groups.

Both breakfast groups also took in higher levels of important nutrients like fiber, iron, zinc and choline, researchers said.

Researchers next plan to see if more protein consumed at breakfast can alter people’s thoughts of and cravings for food throughout the day.

Brown presented her research Saturday at the meeting, which took place in National Harbor, Maryland.

Research presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has more on grab-and-go breakfasts for teens.

SOURCE: American Society for Nutrition, news release, July 25, 2026