ITALIAN TEENAGERS NO LONGER EAT BREAKFAST
February 2023 (language: ita, fr, es, ro, bg, hr)
The post Covid on Italy's youth shows in the morning. For 2 in 5, the pandemic has negatively impacted their mental health. The Istituto Superiore Sanità's snapshot shows the habit of breakfast is declining, and on daily physical activity we are far from achieving the WHO recommendations.
The results are from the VI 2022 survey of the Iss's HBSC Italy Surveillance System conducted 89 thousand boys and girls aged 11, 13, 15 and, for the first time, 17.
Among poor eating behaviors, the habit of not eating breakfast on school days persists, with prevalences ranging from 21 percent at age 11, 27.9 percent at age 13 and 29.6 percent at age 15; this percentage is higher in girls in all age groups considered.
In Italy, breakfast is eaten by only slightly more than half of 11- to 17-year-olds (54.1%). The highest frequency is found among adolescents in the Autonomous Province of Trento (64.5 percent), and the lowest among adolescents in the Campania Region (46.2 percent).