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Nutritional Intervention and Physical Activity in Adolescents and Children with Obesity

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Obesity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2025 | Viewed by 636

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
1. Department of Nursing, Ciudad Real, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13001 Ciudad Real, Spain
2. PAFS Research Group, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha-Toledo Campus, 45004 Toledo, Spain
Interests: physical activity; obesity; active commuting; behavioral habits

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
PAFS Research Group, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha-Toledo Campus, 45004 Toledo, Spain
Interests: physical activity; obesity; active commuting; behavioral habits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Childhood and adolescent obesity pose significant global health challenges with enduring impacts on physical health, psychosocial well-being, and healthcare costs. The alarming prevalence of obesity in these age groups demands urgent attention from researchers, policymakers, and healthcare professionals.

Obesity's multifactorial nature is well documented and influenced by genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors. Key among these are dietary habits and physical activity, which significantly affect obesity susceptibility from an early age. Understanding the complex interactions between nutrition, physical activity, and obesity is crucial for developing effective interventions.

Research highlights the need to investigate the efficacy of interventions targeting nutrition and physical activity to mitigate obesity's adverse health outcomes. These interventions hold the promise of improving quality of life for young individuals and reducing the burden on healthcare systems globally.

This Special Issue aims to synthesize current research findings and insights into effective strategies for preventing and managing obesity in children and adolescents. This aligns with the journal's scope by exploring the intersection of nutrition, physical activity, and public health. It will contribute valuable evidence-based recommendations for healthcare practices, policy development, and future research directions, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the topic and its broader implications.

Dr. Cristina Romero-Blanco
Dr. Susana Aznar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • nutrition
  • physical activity
  • intervention
  • obesity
  • children
  • adolescents
  • dietary modification
  • exercise programs
  • public health

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 917 KiB  
Article
Why Do Adolescents Skip Breakfast? A Study on the Mediterranean Diet and Risk Factors
by Cristina Romero-Blanco, Evelyn Martín-Moraleda, Iván Pinilla-Quintana, Alberto Dorado-Suárez, Alejandro Jiménez-Marín, Esther Cabanillas-Cruz, Virginia García-Coll, María Teresa Martínez-Romero and Susana Aznar
Nutrients 2025, 17(12), 1948; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17121948 - 6 Jun 2025
Viewed by 253
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Skipping breakfast is increasingly common among adolescents and has been associated with adverse health and academic outcomes. The average prevalence of breakfast skipping among adolescents is around 16%, although worldwide, it varies greatly across studies, ranging from 1.3 to 74.7%. This [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Skipping breakfast is increasingly common among adolescents and has been associated with adverse health and academic outcomes. The average prevalence of breakfast skipping among adolescents is around 16%, although worldwide, it varies greatly across studies, ranging from 1.3 to 74.7%. This study aimed to assess the frequency of daily breakfast consumption and explore the factors associated with its omission in a stratified sample of Spanish adolescents. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 547 third-year secondary school students (aged 14–15) from both urban and rural areas in Castilla-La Mancha. Self-reported questionnaires were used to gather sociodemographic, psychosocial, and lifestyle data, including adherence to the Mediterranean diet (via the Kidmed questionnaire) and breakfast habits during school days. Descriptive, bivariate (Chi-square), and multivariate (binary logistic regression) analyses were conducted separately for boys and girls. Results: Findings showed a high prevalence of breakfast skipping one or more days (33.46%), with a significantly higher rate among girls (43.27%) than among boys (24.42%). Also, girls were more likely than boys to skip breakfast every day (14.18% vs. 6.87%, p < 0.001). In both groups, low adherence to the Mediterranean diet was strongly associated with skipping breakfast, along with higher screen time, shorter sleep duration, and being overweight/obese. Among girls, low olive oil consumption (OR 0.145 (CI 0.03–0.67) p 0.014) and poor Mediterranean diet adherence (OR 0.140 (CI 0.06–0.34) p < 0.001) were significant predictors. For boys, being overweight/obese (OR 2.185 (CI 1.06–4.52) p 0.035), low Mediterranean diet adherence (OR 0.136 (CI 0.06–0.32) p < 0.001), and not eating industrial pastries were associated factors (OR 0.413 (CI 0.20–0.88) p 0.022). Predictive models demonstrated good discriminatory power (AUC = 0.807 for girls; 0.792 for boys). Conclusions: Skipping breakfast is prevalent among adolescents, particularly girls, and is linked to poor dietary patterns and excess weight. These findings underscore the need for gender-specific nutritional interventions to promote regular breakfast consumption and improve dietary habits in adolescents. Full article
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