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Effect of Healthy Breakfast Education on Breakfast Consumption Practices among University Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Breakfast consumption is an important component of healthy dietary behaviour and may contribute to adequate nutrient intake, energy balance, concentration, and overall well-being among university students. However, many university students may skip breakfast or consume nutritionally inadequate breakfast foods because of academic schedules, early morning lectures, limited finances, lack of time, hostel living conditions, poor nutritional awareness, and personal food preferences. Healthy breakfast education provides an opportunity to improve students' knowledge of the nutritional importance of breakfast and promote regular consumption of balanced and nutritious breakfast meals. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of healthy breakfast education on breakfast consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Social Cognitive Theory, and Theory of Planned Behavior. The Health Belief Model explains how students' perceptions of susceptibility to poor health outcomes associated with unhealthy dietary practices, perceived severity, perceived benefits of regular healthy breakfast consumption, perceived barriers, and cues to action may influence breakfast practices. Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes observational learning, behavioural modelling, self-efficacy, reinforcement, and environmental influences in developing and maintaining healthy breakfast behaviours. The Theory of Planned Behavior explains how students' attitudes toward breakfast consumption, perceived social expectations, and perceived behavioural control may influence their intentions and actual breakfast practices. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how healthy breakfast education may influence breakfast consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental or analytical cross-sectional research design. The study population will comprise undergraduate students enrolled in selected public and private universities in Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select geopolitical zones, states, universities, faculties, departments, academic levels, and eligible students. Healthy breakfast education will be assessed using indicators such as exposure to breakfast education sessions, frequency and duration of education, knowledge of the nutritional importance of breakfast, awareness of essential breakfast food groups, knowledge of balanced breakfast composition, understanding of appropriate portion sizes, awareness of healthy and unhealthy breakfast choices, knowledge of affordable local breakfast options, and understanding of the potential effects of regularly skipping breakfast. Breakfast consumption practices will be assessed using indicators such as frequency of breakfast consumption, regularity of breakfast intake, time of breakfast consumption, food groups included in breakfast, consumption of fruits and vegetables, intake of whole grains and protein-rich foods, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and highly processed breakfast foods, portion adequacy, breakfast purchasing practices, and frequency of skipping breakfast. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, nutrition knowledge assessment tools, breakfast-frequency questionnaires, dietary assessment instruments, and pre-test and post-test assessments where a quasi-experimental intervention is adopted. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students' demographic and academic characteristics, lifestyle patterns, sources of food information, breakfast habits, and exposure to healthy breakfast education. Inferential statistical techniques, including chi-square tests, t-tests, correlation analysis, and logistic or multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of healthy breakfast education on breakfast consumption practices. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, breakfast consumption practice scores before and after the educational intervention may be compared with those of a comparison group to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that healthy breakfast education has a significant positive effect on breakfast consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured and practical breakfast education are expected to demonstrate improved knowledge and greater adherence to regular and healthier breakfast consumption practices than students without comparable exposure. Education may improve students' ability to identify nutritious breakfast foods, prepare balanced meals, select affordable healthy options, reduce reliance on highly processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages, and recognize the importance of regular breakfast consumption. Practical demonstrations involving affordable and culturally appropriate Nigerian breakfast foods may further strengthen students' confidence in preparing and selecting healthy breakfast meals. However, academic schedules, financial constraints, limited cooking facilities, hostel living conditions, food availability, time pressure, peer influence, and individual food preferences may limit the effectiveness of education alone. The study therefore expects continuous, practical, affordable, and culturally appropriate healthy breakfast education, supported by healthier food environments within university campuses, to contribute significantly to improved breakfast consumption practices among university students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on adolescent and young-adult nutrition, breakfast consumption, nutrition education, university student health, dietary behaviour, healthy eating, non-communicable disease prevention, health promotion, and public health in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Federal Ministry of Education, universities, student health services, nutritionists, dietitians, public health practitioners, university administrators, campus food vendors, student affairs departments, development partners, and policymakers regarding strategies for improving dietary practices among university students. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating healthy breakfast education into university health-promotion programmes, improving access to affordable nutritious breakfast options on campuses, strengthening nutrition counselling, promoting practical meal-planning skills, increasing awareness of healthy local breakfast choices, and developing sustainable interventions to improve breakfast consumption practices among university students across Nigeria.

Keywords: Healthy breakfast education, breakfast consumption practices, university students, nutrition education, healthy eating, dietary behaviour, breakfast skipping, young adults, university health, Nigeria, public health.