Objective: To examine how the associations between meal consumption and BMI over 8 years differ by weight status in a sample of adolescents.
Design: Longitudinal, population-based study. Breakfast, lunch and dinner consumption and BMI were self-reported. Linear regressions were used to examine how the associations between meal consumption and BMI differed by weight status.
Setting: Adolescents in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area.
Participants: Adolescents (n 1,471) were surveyed as part of the EAT 2010-2018 in 2009-2010 (Mage = 14·3 years) and 2017-2018 (Mage = 22·0 years).
Results: The prevalence of regular breakfast, lunch and dinner consumption (≥ 5 times/week) ranged from 45 to 65 %, 75 to 89 % and 76 to 94 %, respectively, depending on weight status category. Among adolescents with a sex- and age-specific BMI < 15th percentile, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner during adolescence were positively associated with BMI in emerging adulthood compared with irregular consumption of breakfast, lunch and dinner (<5 times/week) after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics (β = 5·43, β = 5·39 and β = 6·46, respectively; all P-values <0·01). Among adolescents in the BMI 15-85th and 85-95th percentiles, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner were positively associated with BMI but to a lesser extent (P-values <0·01). For participants with a BMI ≥ 95th percentile, regular consumptions of breakfast, lunch and dinner were positively associated with BMI, but the associations were not statistically significant (P-values > 0·05).
Conclusions: The relationship between meal consumption during adolescence and BMI in emerging adulthood differs by adolescent weight status. Future studies should investigate underlying factors related to meal consumption routines and BMI.
Keywords: Adolescents; BMI; Breakfast; Dinner; Longitudinal; Lunch; Weight gain.