Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct word or phrase that best fits each of the numbered blanks.
You’ve probably ___(1)___ “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” recently. In 1983, we ___(2)___ a newsletter article looking at the popular notion of breakfast’s great importance, which had just been called into question by two British nutritionists. They had reviewed the research on the topic and found little evidence to support the slogan. The available studies on breakfast were small and poorly designed.
Today, scientists are still studying breakfast’s role in ___(3)___, but many more studies (and much higher quality ones) are available. In 2021, a recent scientific statement from the American Heart Association, published in Circulation, included a review of the body of science on breakfast and cardiovascular health. The authors ___(4)___ that planning and timing meals and snacks, such as not skipping breakfast and allocating more calories earlier in the day, might help reduce risk of cardiovascular ___(5)___ and problems related to blood sugar control. They also noted that breakfast skippers were less likely to meet recommendations for vitamins and minerals and had poorer diets overall compared to breakfast eaters.
It’s still a stretch to say breakfast is the most important meal, but eating a healthy breakfast is associated with potential benefits. If you normally skip breakfast (as 20 to 30% of US adults do), you may want to rethink that or make ___(6)___ your food choices at other times are nutrient-rich.
Nutrition Then and Now - Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter