Although multiple studies have identified skipping breakfast as a risk factor for weight gain, there is limited evidence on the clinical impact of skipping lunch and dinner on weight gain. This retrospective cohort study including 17,573 male and 8860 female university students at a national university in Japan, assessed the association of the frequency of breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the incidence of weight gain (≥10%) and overweight/obesity (body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m2), using annual participant health checkup data. Within the observation period of 3.0 ± 0.9 years, the incidence of ≥10% weight gain was observed in 1896 (10.8%) men and 1518 (17.1%) women, respectively. Skipping dinner was identified as a significant predictor of weight gain in multivariable-adjusted Poisson regression models for both men and women (skipping ≥ occasionally vs. eating every day, adjusted incidence rate ratios, 1.45 (95% confidence interval: 1.04-2.01) and 1.67 (1.33-2.09) in male and female students, respectively), whereas skipping breakfast and lunch were not. Similarly, skipping dinner, not breakfast or lunch, was associated with overweight/obesity (1.74 (1.07-2.84) and 1.68 (1.02-2.78) in men and women, respectively). In conclusion, skipping dinner predicted the incidence of weight gain and overweight/obesity in university students.
Keywords: breakfast skipping; dinner skipping; lunch skipping; meal frequency; overweight/obesity; retrospective cohort study; weight gain.