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Snacking and breakfast: Type, frequency and associations with mood, health and cognition.

Chaplin, Katherine 2007. Snacking and breakfast: Type, frequency and associations with mood, health and cognition. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.

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Abstract

This thesis addressed the issue of breakfast, snacking and their effects on mental health and well-being, accidents at injuries at work, memory, attention and performance on the hazard perception test. The first point of interest was to examine and extend current knowledge about breakfast consumption and its associations with mental health and well-being. Alongside this it was of interest whether these associations were also found following consumption of a snack. This thesis considered both the type of snack consumed and frequency of consumption. Overall frequency of breakfast consumption was found to show strong and positive associations with all of the health, well-being and occupational outcomes, supporting the view that breakfast is a positive health behaviour which should be encouraged. The pattern was more complex with regard to snack consumption. Consumption of unhealthy snacks, such as chocolate and crisps, was strongly and negatively associated with all of the health, well-being, occupational and cognitive outcomes. Further examination revealed that breakfast and unhealthy snacking are not different sides of the same coin but are two independent behaviours. Increasing breakfast consumption and decreasing unhealthy snack consumption should be the focus of dietary interventions. Conversely healthy snack consumption, such as fruit and nuts, showed a similar pattern of results as breakfast, albeit weaker. In effect they are both measuring the same underlying healthiness factor. All of these results remained after controlling for other lifestyle factors and were replicated in a number of samples including students, members of the general public, nurses and primary school children.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Status: Unpublished
Schools: Psychology
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
ISBN: 9781303183089
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 10 Oct 2017 15:28
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/55738

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