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Is Breakfast In Canada In Crisis?

Many Canadians (28%) Say They Don't Regularly Eat A Balanced And Nutritious Breakfast During Workweek One-Third (34%) Say They Skip Breakfast During The Workweek At Least Once

9 February 2005

Trends & Prospective

Toronto, ON - According to a new Ipsos-Reid survey conducted on behalf of the Florida Department of Citrus, there is plenty of room for improvement among many Canadians when it comes to their weekday breakfast habits. Specifically, one in three (28%) Canadians do not think they eat a balanced and nutritious breakfast during the average Monday to Friday workweek. What's more is that one-third of Canadians surveyed (34%) claim they skip breakfast altogether at least once during the workweek.

Among those Canadians who do not eat breakfast everyday during the workweek (34%), 51% say that the most common reason why they skip breakfast is that they "aren't hungry", and another 39% say they skip breakfast because they simply "don't have time".

Further, they are not spending a lot of time during the workweek having breakfast: On average, they claim they spend about one-quarter of an hour (mean 16 minutes) having their typical workweek breakfast.

When those Canadians who have breakfast during the workweek are asked where they usually have their breakfast, many (19%) say they don't sit down and have it at home: Nine percent say they have breakfast at work, 6% say they have it on the go - in the car, on the bus, walking to work, etc, and 4% say they have it at a restaurant, coffee shop or cafeteria. However, eight out of ten Canadians (81%) say they do sit down and have breakfast at home.

When Canadians are asked an open-ended question about what foods and beverages they typically have as part of their workweek breakfast, the most common responses were cereal (43%), coffee (39%), toast or bagel (37%), orange juice (30%), milk (29%), fruit (24%), eggs (21%), and other fruit juices (17%).

Interestingly, despite the `morning rush' for many Canadians who have breakfast during the workweek, six in ten (60%) say they include a glass of orange juice as part of their typical breakfast during the workweek at least once (forty percent say they do not include a glass of orange juice as part of their breakfast at least once during the week). In fact, the average Canadian includes orange juice as part of their breakfast approximately twice a week (mean 1.9).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/ Florida Department of Citrus survey conducted from January 14th to January 17th, 2005. For the survey, a representative randomly selected sample of 1000 adult Canadians were interviewed by telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.
Many Canadians (28%) Do Not Think That They Eat A "Balanced And Nutritious Breakfast On A Regular Basis During Workweek" -- Majority (72%) Say They Do...

Many Canadians (28%) disagree with the statement that "I eat a balanced and nutritious breakfast on a regular basis during the workweek from Monday to Friday" (12% "somewhat disagree", 17% "strongly disagree"). However, the majority of Canadians (72%) agree with this statement (47% "strongly agree", 25% "somewhat agree").

Residents of Ontario (34%) are the most likely to disagree with this statement, followed by residents of British Columbia (32%) and Alberta (32%), Atlantic Canada (25%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (24%), and Quebec (18%). 183
Residents of Quebec (82%) are the most likely to agree with this statement, followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (76%), Atlantic Canada (75%), British Columbia (68%), Alberta (67%), and Ontario (66%). 183
Those aged 55 and over are significantly more likely to agree with this statement than are those aged 18-54 (82% vs. 67%). 183
Women are more likely than men to agree with this statement (75% vs. 68%).

One-Third Of Canadians (34%) Skip Breakfast Once Or More During Workweek, Including 11% Who Don't Eat Breakfast At All During Workweek...

As part of the survey Canadians were asked how many days during the five-day workweek from Monday to Friday they eat breakfast. Overall, 23% of Canadians say they skip breakfast at least one day during the workweek, and a further 11% say they don't eat breakfast at all during the workweek. Combining these groups, we see that 34% of Canadians say that they skip breakfast once or more during the workweek.

On average, Canadians say they eat breakfast four times (mean 4.0) over the course of the workweek.

Specifically, we see that:

Two thirds (66%) claim to eat breakfast all five days during the workweek; 183
7% claim to eat breakfast on four of the five days during the workweek; 183
9% claim to eat breakfast on three of the five days during the workweek; 183
4% claim to eat breakfast on two of the five days during the workweek; and 183
3% claim to eat breakfast once during the workweek.

When it comes to demographics:

Those Canadians most likely to say they skip breakfast during the workweek are residents of Alberta (17%), followed by residents of Ontario (13%), British Columbia (11%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (10%), Atlantic Canada (9%), and Quebec (5%). 183
Middle-aged Canadians between the ages of 35 and 54 are the most likely to say they skip breakfast during the workweek (14% vs. 8% among those aged 18-34 and 9% among those aged 55 and over). 183
Those with a University degree education are the most likely to say they eat breakfast everyday during the workweek (72% vs. 64% among those with lower levels of education). 183
Residents of Quebec (mean 4.4) seem to have breakfast the most often during the workweek, followed by residents of Atlantic Canada (mean 4.1), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (mean 3.9) and British Columbia (mean 3.9), Ontario (mean 3.8), and Alberta (mean 3.6). 183
Those aged 55 and over are more inclined to say they have breakfast more often than those aged 18-34 (mean 4.3 vs. mean 3.8). 183
Women are significantly more likely than men to say they have breakfast everyday during the workweek (71% vs. 61%)

And When Canadians Do Have Breakfast During The Workweek, They Aren't Spending Much Time Doing It (An Average Of 16 Minutes)...

When those Canadians who have breakfast at least once during the workweek are asked how much time they usually spend having their weekday breakfasts, they report an average of about one-quarter of an hour (mean 16 minutes).

Broken down into ranges we see that among those Canadians who do have breakfast during the workweek:

14% spend 1 to 5 minutes having breakfast; 183
27% spend 6 to 10 minutes having breakfast; 183
27% spend 11 to 15 minutes having breakfast; 183
16% spend 16 to 20 minutes having breakfast; 183
13% spend 21 to 30 minutes having breakfast; and 183
3% spend more than 30 minutes having breakfast.

Among these Canadians that have breakfast at least once during the workweek:

Residents of Quebec (mean 17 minutes) spend, on average, the most time having breakfast, followed by residents of Ontario (mean 16 minutes), British Columbia (mean 15 minutes), Alberta (mean 15 minutes), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (mean 15 minutes), and Atlantic Canada (mean 15 minutes). 183
Those aged 18-34 are the most likely to say they spend the least amount of time having breakfast - 22% claim they spend 1 to 5 minutes having breakfast during the workweek vs. 15% who say this among 35-54 year olds and 5% among those aged 55 and over. 183
Those with the highest annual household income ($60,000 or more) are the most likely to say they spend 1 to 5 minutes having breakfast (18% vs. 13% among those with lower levels of annual household income). 183
As age rises the average length of time spent having breakfast increases (a mean of 14 minutes among those aged 18-34, a mean of 16 minutes among those aged 35-54, and a mean of 19 minutes among those aged 55 and over).

Top Reasons Why People Skip Breakfast Altogether During Workweek: They Aren't Hungry (51%) Or They Don't Have Time (39%)...

Among those who say they don't eat breakfast everyday during the workweek, 51% say that the most common reason why they skip breakfast is that they "aren't hungry". Four in ten of these respondents (39%) say they skip breakfast because they "don't have time", 2% "don't think breakfast is important", 2% "don't have food in the house", and 1% are "dieting and watching what they eat". The remaining 4% of respondents who don't eat breakfast everyday during the workweek point to some "other reason" when asked why they skip breakfast.

Among those who don't eat breakfast everyday during the workweek:

Residents of Quebec (65%) are the most likely to say they "aren't hungry", followed by residents of British Columbia (54%), Ontario (48%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (47%), Alberta (46%), and Atlantic Canada (44%). 183
Those aged 55 and over are significantly more likely than those aged 18-54 to say they "aren't hungry" (60% vs. 49%). 183
Those aged 18-34 are the most likely to say they "don't have time" to eat breakfast during the workweek (44% vs. 34% among those aged 35 and over). 183
Those with a high school level education or less are significantly more likely than those with some post-secondary education or higher to say "they don't have time" to eat breakfast during the workweek (36% vs. 42%). 183
Residents of Alberta (51%) are the most likely to say they "don't have time" to eat breakfast during the workweek, followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (43%), Atlantic Canada (42%), Ontario (41%), British Columbia (30%), and Quebec (28%). 183
Those aged 18-34 are significantly more likely than those aged 35 and over to say they "don't have time" to eat breakfast during the workweek (44% vs. 36%).

But Where Are They Having Breakfast? Eight Out Of Ten Of These Canadians (81%) Say They Sit Down And Have Breakfast At Home -- 19% Have Breakfast Elsewhere...

While eight of ten Canadians who eat breakfast at least once during the workweek say they manage to sit down and eat breakfast at home (81%), many Canadians (19%) say they are not: Nine percent say they have breakfast at work, 6% say they have it on the go - in the car, on the bus, walking to work, etc, and 4% say they are have it at a restaurant, coffee shop or cafeteria. One percent of Canadians say they usually do "none" of these.

Among those who eat breakfast during the workweek:

Those most likely to either eat their breakfast "on the go" or "at work" are those aged 18-34 (22% vs. 16% among those aged 35-54 and 5% among those aged 55 and over). 183
Residents of Alberta (19%) and Ontario (19%) are the most likely to say they eat breakfast either "on the go" or "at work", followed by residents of Saskatchewan/Manitoba (4%), British Columbia (14%), Quebec (11%), and Atlantic Canada (7%). 183
Residents of Atlantic Canada (90%) are the most likely to "sit down and have breakfast and home", followed by residents of British Columbia (84%) and Quebec (84%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (83%), Ontario (76%), and Alberta (75%). 183
Those age 55 and over are significantly more likely than those age 18-54 to usually "sit down and have breakfast and home" (91% vs. 76%). 183
Those with an annual household income of less than $30,000 are significantly more likely than those with an annual household income of $30,000 or more to say they usually "sit down and have breakfast at home" (88% vs. 78%).

Well, What Are Canadians Having For Breakfast?

When Canadians are asked an open-ended question as to "what types of foods or beverages you have as part of your typical breakfast during the workweek from Monday to Friday" their responses are widely varied. Canadians list, unaided, a number of different breakfast foods or beverages -- such as:

Cereal (43%); 183
Coffee (39%); 183
Toast or bagel (37%); 183
Orange Juice (30%); 183
Milk (29%); 183
Fruit (24%); 183
Eggs (21%); 183
Other fruit juice (17%); 183
Tea (10%); 183
Yogurt (7%); 183
Bacon or sausage (7%); 183
Water (5%); and 183
Oatmeal/porridge (5%).

*Responses provided by fewer than 5% of respondents are not included in this list. **Because this is a multiple response question, total percentages exceed 100.

One in ten Canadians (9%) point to some "other" type of breakfast food or beverage, 2% say "nothing", and 1% "don't know" what types of food or beverages they typically eat for breakfast.

No demographic trends are apparent with respect to this question.

Six In Ten (60%) Include Orange Juice As Part Of Their Workweek Breakfast...

As part of the survey, those Canadians who have breakfast at least once during the workweek were asked how many of their workweek breakfasts they would say typically include having a glass of orange juice. A good majority of these Canadians (60%) say they typically include a glass of orange juice with their workweek breakfasts at least once. However, four in ten (40%) say they typically do not include orange juice as part of their workweek breakfast. T

hose Canadians who have breakfast during the workweek say that, on average, they include orange juice as part of their breakfast approximately twice (mean 1.9) a workweek.

Among these breakfast eaters:

12% include orange juice as part of their breakfast, on average, one day a week; 183
10% include orange juice two days a week; 183
13% include orange juice three days a week; 183
5% include orange juice four days a week; and 183
20% include orange juice all five days.

And who is most likely to not be including Orange Juice as part of their weekday breakfast?

Residents of British Columbia (57%) are the most likely to say they don't include orange juice as part of their breakfast, followed by residents of Alberta (46%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (44%) and Ontario (44%), Atlantic Canada (32%), and Quebec (24%).

Among those who eat breakfast at least once during the workweek:

Residents of Quebec (mean 2.6) include orange juice as part of their breakfast most frequently, followed by residents of Atlantic Canada (mean 2.4), Ontario (mean 1.7) and Saskatchewan/Manitoba (mean 1.7), Alberta (mean 1.6), and British Columbia (mean 1.2). 183
Those aged 35 and over are significantly more likely than those aged 18-34 to include orange juice as part of their typical workweek breakfast (23% vs. 12%). 183
Women are significantly more likely than men to include orange juice as part of their breakfast (22% vs. 17%). Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.

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For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900

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