Survey: Only Half of Americans Eat Breakfast

NATIONAL REPORT -- According to a new survey released by Kraft Foods, 63 percent of Americans admit they sometimes feel low on energy in the morning, which is not a surprise given that fewer than half eat breakfast every day.

The national survey, conducted by StrategyOne, sought to understand breakfast habits and the role breakfast plays in providing Americans with the sustained morning energy they need. Sixty-one percent of American adults believe breakfast to be the most important meal of the day, yet only 48 percent eat breakfast every morning.

The survey results show that breakfast beliefs vary from coast to coast:

• Researchers found breakfast skipping to be more common in major southern cities, with Dallas-Fort Worth (54 percent) and Houston (60 percent) residents forgoing breakfast most frequently.

• New Yorkers (69 percent) and Los Angelenos (66 percent) suffer the most from morning energy drain, while residents of Washington, D.C. (44 percent) and Boston (46 percent) are the least likely to be sluggish in the morning.

Among those who eat breakfast daily, men seem to get more out of their breakfast, with 53 percent of men feeling more productive after breakfast vs. 44 percent of women. Almost two in three Americans admit to having low levels of energy in the morning, with 57 percent looking to breakfast to help provide fuel for their morning. More than half of Americans can be persuaded to up their breakfast intake if it is nutritious and provides energy for the whole morning.

To fill this void, Kraft Foods is introducing belVita Breakfast Biscuits -- lightly sweet, whole-grain, crunchy breakfast biscuits, specially developed to provide nutritious sustained energy. They hit store shelves nationwide this week in the cookie/cracker aisle. Each individual package of four biscuits has 18 to 20 grams whole grains per serving and does not contain high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavors or sweeteners.

The belVita Energy Survey is based on two studies conducted by StrategyOne from Dec. 21 to Jan. 4. The first, a national sample of 1,005 six-minute surveys, was conducted online among U.S. adults. The second study was conducted online in 10 major U.S. cities among adults. The cities were: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington D.C., Atlanta, and Houston. A total of 2,000 five-minute surveys were conducted. (Sample size of 200 per city; 100 male and 100 female per city.)