Eating breakfast at school and home in the morning does not increase rates of obese kids based on a new study. It debunks the theory that low-income children who eat free school breakfasts and a morning meal at home have a higher risk of becoming overweight. The research shows that schoolchildren who skip breakfast are more likely to add extra pounds and body fat.      

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The study was conducted by the University of Connecticut's (UC) Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. It was published in the journal Pediatric Obesity.  

UC researcher Marlene Schwartz shares that the study's findings suggest that two breakfasts are a better option than skipping breakfast, according to NDTV. Schwartz notes that as many children as possible should eat a healthy breakfast every morning and particularly those in low-income areas.

The study included students from a dozen schools in New Haven, Connecticut who were tracked from 5th grade to 7th grade. Researchers recorded the children's breakfast habits and body weights.

They learned that only about 10 percent of the children ate double breakfasts. However, their weight change over the three years was the same as the change in average weight of all the school students.

However, breakfast skippers and kids who only sometimes ate school breakfasts were two times as likely to become overweight or obese than two-breakfast eaters. More girls than boys skipped breakfast.

Health advocates including the Obama First Family argue that free school meals are a way to fight hunger among American children. That includes gratis breakfast, lunch, and dinner.      

The majority of US public schools are in the federal government's school breakfast program, which provides free or discounted breakfasts at school. However, advocacy group Food Research and Action Center reports that millions of kids who quality for the meals do not get them.

Almost four million US households cannot provide their children with enough healthy food. That is based on 2012 federal government data.

In related news the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO) reported in January that childhood obesity is now a global problem. There are now more young obese children in Asia and Africa than in developed countries such as the United States, according to Fortune.

This video takes up if breakfast is the most important meal of the day: