Connection between month of birth and eating behavior
Relative age influences eating habits more than previously assumed, especially in boys
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Younger adolescents in a class tend to have unhealthy eating habits more often. This is the conclusion of a study in Trier and shows what can be done about it.
Overweight, fewer vegetables, more soft drinks, more irregular meals and more frequent diets - all of these are more likely to apply to the younger members of a class than the older ones. This is confirmed by a study by Trier-based personnel economist Dr. Sven Hartmann and two colleagues from the Czech Republic and Italy, which was published in 2026.
The link between relative age and the well-being of children and young people has been known for some time. For example, the younger members of a cohort are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD, have poorer grades on average and do less sport. The three international scientists therefore also took a closer look at the eating habits of younger children in 30 European countries - with comparable results.
Boys more affected
"When it comes to objective overweight as measured by the Body Mass Index, for example, we see that the youngest children in a school year are around 2 percentage points more likely to be overweight than the oldest children," explains Hartmann, "boys even more so than girls." What may not seem like much at first is statistically very relevant when measured against the average risk of obesity of 13.9 percent in the entire survey.
The trio factored out other factors influencing eating habits, such as family composition or wealth, in order to be able to accurately measure the effects of relative age. In addition, data from countries that do not have a uniform cut-off date for school entry were excluded. This also includes Germany.
The reasons for the unhealthy behavior can only be assumed so far. On the one hand, the aforementioned more frequent mental problems among younger children encourage bad eating habits. On the other hand, they may feel greater social pressure. For example, it is conceivable that they imitate unhealthy behavior exemplified by older classmates to an exaggerated degree.
Argument for school meals
But what can be done about this? "On the one hand, it's about sensitizing parents and teachers to relative age effects," says Hartmann. The study also shows that the effects are less pronounced in countries with universal school meals. A plea for school canteens, then, as well as for starting school later. "Younger pupils are more likely to skip breakfast on school days," the researchers explain. This could indicate that they sleep longer and compensate for the missing time by skipping breakfast.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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