Is your teenager skipping breakfast? Why is that happening and what can you do? As per the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which surveyed adolescent health and well-being found that 1 in 4 students in high school ate breakfast, which means 3 in 4 high school students are not eating their breakfast. This data is as per the 2023 survey.

What Did The Study Intend?

The report describes a 10-year long trend and also recent changes among the two years. The study delved deeper into adolescents' dietary, physical activity and sleep behaviors. The study is also based on a national youth risk behavior survey of a representative sample of students from grade nine to 12.

What Did The Study Find?

The study found that while high school students drank slightly less soda and sports drinks and consumed more water, other healthy eating habits declined. In 2023, only 27% of students ate breakfast every day in the past week. The numbers were even lower for female students, with just 22% eating breakfast daily, compared to 32% of male students. Boys were also more likely to eat fruits and vegetables daily and drink water at least three times a day. Poor mental health and lack of physical activity have also been linked to skipping breakfast.

The other findings included a survey across 10-year period, where a decrease in the percentage of students eating fruits from 65% to 55%, eating vegetables, from 61% to 58%, and having breakfast daily from 38% to 27% was noted.

However, there was a positive trend among this, which was in children drinking plain water at least three times a day, which increased from 49% to 54% from when the survey began in 2015.. There were fewer students who also said that they drank soda in 2023 than in 2013. On an average, in 2013, around 22% students avoided soda, whereas in 2023, 31% students avoided it.

The report also emphasized that a healthy diet, along with daily physical activity and sufficient sleep further contributes to a healthy lifestyle. “The 10-year trends from 2013 to 2023 also show a decline in healthy dietary, physical activity, and sleep behaviors,” the survey reported.

Why Do High School Students Skip Breakfast?

While there is no one straightforward answer to it, psychologists and those who study children, believe that for many high school going kids, it is the easiest time to skip a meal. This is because they are caught between rushing to school, or not just that hungry in the morning. So for them, to sit down to have a breakfast may seem hassle and something they would have to take time out from their busy schedule. They at this age also prioritize their extra-curricular activities.

There has also been a shift in their circadian rhythm, and most teens cannot fall asleep before 11 pm, or even at midnight. Which means they wake up tired and struggle to do things right in the morning, which is why they choose to skip breakfast or give extra minutes to any other activities.

There is of course another, more popular reason, to lose weight. While experts and studies, like the one published in the Journal of Nutrition that found skipping breakfast leads to higher levels of hunger hormones, the students still feel the need to do this. However, it could lead to a slow metabolism, prompt the body to conserve energy and burn fewer calories, weight gain and deprive yo off the essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamin D.

Without a morning breakfast, your blood sugar might drop too, which can increase irritability and stress, along with including the risk of depression in teenage.

A US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study that shows the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine has been blocked from being published in the agency’s flagship scientific journal, according to a media report.

The findings revealed that the COVID vaccine reduced emergency department visits and halved hospitalizations among healthy adults last winter.

The study, previously delayed by the head of the federal agency Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, was ultimately rejected for publication in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, The Washington Post reported, citing officials familiar with the decision.

Also Read: Heatwave in India: Delhi Govt Issues Advisory For Schools, Urges Hydration And Reduced Outdoor Activity

The CDC initially delayed the publication based on concerns about "the observational method used in the study to calculate vaccine effectiveness".

Now, Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, was quoted as saying that “the MMWR’s editorial assessment identified concerns regarding the methodological approach to estimating vaccine effectiveness and the manuscript was not accepted for publication”.

What Is This Concerning?

According to current and former officials that The Post spoke to, the information about the vaccine’s benefits is being downplayed because it conflicts with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.. Kennedy has been an outspoken critic of the vaccine. He once referred to COVID-19 shots as the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Notably, the CDC study had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, which includes dozens of scientists, The Post reported. Stopping an MMWR report at that stage is highly unusual, former CDC officials were quoted as saying.

“I cannot recall CDC stopping an MMWR report in the publication phase after scientific clearance and editorial review. On rare occasions, we shifted the timing slightly to better align communications plans with competing or reinforcing pieces,” said Michael Iademarco, who was the director of the CDC center with oversight of the MMWR from 2014 to 2022.

The agency has to apply the “highest standards of scientific rigor” to the information it publishes, a CDC official said in response to a query from CIDRAP News.

“Responsible science requires careful review. Taking time to ensure analyses are methodologically sound and clearly communicated is always preferable to risking error,” the official added.

The rejected study used a methodology that has long been used by the CDC to evaluate vaccine effectiveness for respiratory viruses, including influenza.

Importantly, a study about flu vaccine effectiveness conducted using the same methodology was published in the MMWR a week earlier. Similarly, another study using the same methodology was conducted to gauge COVID vaccine effectiveness in children. It was published in MMWR in December.

Also read: A Year After RFK JR Promised To Make America Healthy Again, What Actually Happened?

The Post quoted an HHS official as saying that Bhattacharya met with scientific staff and that the study's authors did not want to adjust their methodology.

The cancellation of the report appears to be “cherry picking based on the bias of the director and others at HHS who don’t fully understand the importance of the methods used to assess the added benefit of vaccines in preventing poor outcomes,” Demetre Daskalakis, the former director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in an email to CIDRAP News.

HHS under Robert F Kennedy Jr

Robert F Kennedy Jr took charge of America's health as the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2025.

Read: Who is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Controversial Nominee for U.S. Health Secretary?

No area defined Kennedy’s first year more than vaccines. He clearly did state during election debates that he is not against vaccine but planned to reshape a system he said had failed many families for decades.

However, in the first year, he fired members of a CDC advisory panel, replaced them, sometimes with skeptics, and cut the list of routinely recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11.

Several vaccines, including flu and hepatitis A, were removed from routine recommendations. He also directed the CDC to stop recommending the vaccine for healthy pregnant women and children.

Within days of Kennedy’s swearing-in, thousands of employees across CDC (including the Director), FDA and NIH were fired in a sweeping reorganization aimed at shrinking the department by about 20,000 workers.

Meanwhile, measles deaths returned after a decade. It puts the country at risk of losing its measles elimination status this year.

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said the gap in trust over vaccines has worsened during the past year “due to false statements about safety and efficacy of vaccines for preventable diseases like measles”, US News reported.

But as per Kennedy, the US has done better at controlling the measles outbreak “than any country in the world.”

He also deflected responsibility for the situation, noting that “it started before I came to office” and saying most children infected with measles are over 5 years old, “meaning their decision not to vaccinate predated my appointment.”

“We have a global pandemic,” Kennedy said. “It has nothing to do with me.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv), for use in children at stage 2 of type 1 diabetes (T1D) ages one and older.

The drug was first approved in the US in November 2022 to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D in adults and children eight years and older diagnosed with stage 2 T1D.

Also Read: US CDC Study Showcasing COVID Vaccine Benefits Blocked From Publication

The FDA has now expanded its use to children as young as one year of age to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D. This means that children at risk for advancing to stage 3 T1D, which is when insulin therapy is required, can get an average of two extra years without T1D.

"This approval opens an important new chapter in diabetes care for young children with stage 2 type 1 diabetes and their families,” said Kimber Simmons, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Barbara Davis Center, Colorado, US.

“This is especially important because these children are often at the highest risk of progressing quickly and without warning. Delaying the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes during the years when management is often most difficult because of a child’s small size and dependence on caregivers could have a truly meaningful impact for families," Simmons added.

What is Tzield? How Its Administered?

Developed by drugmaker Sanofi, Tzield is a CD3-directed monoclonal antibody and is the first disease-modifying medicine in T1D.

It is a 14-day, once-daily intravenous (IV) infusion treatment designed to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes in adults and children (aged 8+) with Stage 2 diabetes.

Each dose is administered over at least 30 minutes, usually in a clinical setting, to stop the immune system from destroying insulin-producing beta cells.

Stage 2 T1D is defined by the presence of two or more T1D-related autoantibodies and abnormal blood sugar levels (dysglycemia).

Tzield has also been approved in the EU (under the name Teizeild), the UK, China, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, and Brazil to delay the onset of stage 3 T1D in adults and children eight years and older.

The FDA is also reviewing Tzield for a potential indication to delay the progression of stage 3 T1D in patients eight years of age and older who have recently been diagnosed with stage 3 T1D.

The new approval was granted under a priority review process and is supported by one-year data from the PETITE-T1D Phase 4 study, which evaluated safety and pharmacokinetics in young children.

What Is Type 1 diabetes?

Around 2 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, which typically develops in childhood or early adulthood. It occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the islet cells in the pancreas. Without these cells, the body cannot produce insulin.

The progressive autoimmune disease develops in four stages:

The stage 1 T1D is presymptomatic, where the autoimmune attack on the beta cells has started, and this can be detected by the presence of two or more T1D-related autoantibodies in the blood. In this stage, the blood sugar levels are in a normal range.

Stage 2 is also presymptomatic, but blood sugar levels become abnormal due to the progressive loss of beta cells.

Stage 3 (also known as the clinical stage) sets in once a significant portion of the beta cells have been destroyed. At this point, rising blood sugar levels reach the point of clinical hyperglycemia (which defines diabetes), and many people will start to experience the classic symptoms such as:

• increased thirst,
• frequent urination
• unexplained weight loss
• blurred vision
• generalized fatigue.

Stage 4 is defined as long-standing autoimmune T1D, often accompanied by evidence of chronic diabetic complications, where little to no beta-cell function remains.

ndia’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) today outlined a roadmap to ensure universal access to safe blood in every district by December 2026.

The government’s goal of ensuring timely access to safe blood is in line with the National Blood Policy and was reiterated during a high-level national review meeting with States and Union Territories. The meeting, held via video conference, assessed the preparedness of blood banks and transfusion services across 36 States and UTs in the country.

Current Gaps

The review comprehensively assessed the status of blood transfusion services across the country, covering the five critical stages of service delivery:

• Licensing and Renewal;
• Donor Screening and Blood Collection;
• Testing for Transfusion-Transmitted Infections (TTIs) and referral/linkage of reactive donors;
• Processing, Storage, and Issuance;
• Reporting and Record-keeping.

According to the official statement by the Ministry, approximately 10 per cent of districts in the country currently do not have a blood center.

It also flagged other gaps in digital integration, with a significant number of blood centers yet to be onboarded on eRaktKosh and BBMS. This is limiting real-time visibility and monitoring, revealed the national-level meeting.

"While several states and Union Territories have demonstrated strong performance across multiple indicators, variability persists in areas such as district-level availability of blood centers, licensing compliance, voluntary blood donation rates, referral and linkage of TTI-reactive donors, component separation capacity, and real-time digital reporting," the review found.

Also read: Why Hemophilia Care in India Lags Behind Globally, Expert Reveals: World Hemophilia Day

Access To Safe Blood By 2026 End

Dr Rakesh Gupta, Additional Secretary (Public Health) and Director General, National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), reiterated the national goal of ensuring timely access to safe blood in every district, with zero transfusion-transmitted infections (TTI).

He emphasized "the milestone of establishing at least one blood center in every district by December 2026, in line with the National Blood Policy".

The review also noted encouraging practices in several states and Union Territories, including

• high levels of voluntary blood donation,
• strong testing proficiency under External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS)
• Effective referral and linkage mechanisms for TTI- reactive donors.

Priority Actions

The Ministry outlined a set of priority actions, which include:

• strengthening district-level ownership and administrative convergence; ensuring 100 per cent licensing compliance of all operational blood centers;
• enforcing standard operating procedures for blood collection and donation camps;
• scaling up voluntary blood donation through structured outreach and awareness campaigns
• adopting advanced testing protocols such as ELISA and CLIA-based screening
• strengthening referral and linkage systems
• 100 per cent digital integration of blood services through eRaktKosh and BBMS,
• The use of biometric donor identification under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission aims to improve traceability and efficiency.

Advancing Blood Safety In India

According to data from the World Health Organization, India’s annual blood collection increased from 12.6 million units in 2023 to 14.6 million units in 2024. Voluntary blood donation accounted for 74.55 per cent of total collections, reflecting strong public participation and the impact of effective awareness campaigns.

In 2025, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel told the Parliament that the country has made significant strides in strengthening blood transfusion services and has ensured its safety and availability.

Patel said that the country has established a multi-tiered system to ensure safe and efficient blood transfusion services. These include measures such as mandatory testing for five TTIs, expansion of Nucleic Acid Testing (NAT), proposed capital blood centers, National External Quality Assessment (EQA) program expansion, and transition to a community-based approach.

While the government has placed a complete ban on professional blood donation, every unit of collected blood undergoes mandatory testing for five transfusion-transmissible infections (TTIs) — HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Syphilis, and Malaria, Patel said.