Cereal for healthy weight

Cereal for breakfast beneficial for teenage girls.

Eating a bowl of high-fibre cereal in the morning before school as part of an overall healthy lifestyle may help teenage girls maintain a healthy body weight as well as an adequate nutrient intake, new US research shows.

In a study by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, researchers analysed data collected over a 10-year period on more than 2,300 girls participating in a long-term study of growth and health. As the girls moved through their teenage years, those who ate cereal three times per week or more had lower body mass index (BMI) than girls who did not eat cereal, investigators reported. This appeared to be true regardless of the girls’ level of physical activity.

Source: Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2005;105;9; 1365-1372