Associations between obesity, breakfast-time food habits and intake of energy and nutrients in a group of elderly Madrid residents.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to gain more knowledge about the breakfast habits of different groups of elderly people and to investigate the differences in breakfast habits between overweight and normal weight elderly subjects. METHODS: A study was made of the food preferences, dietary habits and the intake of energy and nutrients at breakfast in a group of 122 elderly Spanish people (65 men and 57 women) aged 75.7+/-8.7 years. Study participants were divided into two groups: overweight and obese subjects (O) with a body mass index (BMI)>or=25 kg/m2 (58% of the population), and normal weight subjects (NW) with a BMI<25 kg/m2 (42% of the population). The members of each group were further divided into subgroups according to age (>or=80 years of age (Y) and