A recent U. Nebraska-Lincoln study found that more than 70 percent of low-income families don’t get the recommended levels of nutrition in their diets. One way to improve nutrition intake, the study found, was for the whole family to eat together more often, especially at breakfast.

“What came out of this study is eating as a family is important,” said Wanda Koszewski, UNL extension associate professor of nutrition and health sciences and the study’s lead author.

While researchers knew families eating dinner together was important, what was surprising was that families who ate breakfast together showed a significant positive impact.

“Now we know we need to emphasize families eating breakfast (together),” Koszewski said.

Part of the reason is that important nutrients, such as calcium, folate, potassium, Vitamin C and A found in fruits and dairy, are commonly consumed at breakfast, according to Koszewski. If people skip breakfast, they miss out on those nutrients.

“It’s like starting the day out already behind nutritionally,” she said. “When you miss those food groups at breakfast, you’re not going to make up for that later in the day.”

Part of the reason for families missing breakfast together, Koszewski said, is because of their fast-paced lifestyles.

“Breakfast used to be a meal to sit down and eat together,” she said, but now many mornings, families are running out the door.

Some other issues, Koszewski said, is that young parents don’t know how to cook and that working-age children hold jobs to help out families.

“We need to get back to eating as a family, making sure we get the right foods at meals,” she said. “I have no idea how we’re going to do that as a society.”

While the study looked at low-income families, Koszewski said this study is not just about income.

“Across classes, I think we’re going to find the same thing,” she said. The problem with low-income families, she added, is that it’s hard for them to eat well together as a family anyway.

The results from this research provide nutrition education to Nebraska’s Nutrition Education Program, which helps families on a limited budget improve the quality of their diets.

“It does make a difference,” Koszewski said of the research. “We have data that shows it improves behavior and diets. This research will help us do our job better.”

While this is just a small study, Koszewski said she hopes to keep gathering research to see if the same results come up statewide or regionally.

“I would like more data to support why breakfast is important,” she said. “People say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This research shows it’s important to eat together as a family.”