Sales of cereal bars in the UK have topped £200 million a year, according to a recent report in The Grocer. The findings suggest a major shift in British breakfasting habits and an increasing willingness to eat food on the move.

This fits very much into the contemporary picture of Britons as time-strapped go-getters with less time to sit around than ever before.

The report claims that the average Briton skips breakfast 50 times a year. Furthermore, more than half of those who eat breakfast on a regular basis say they spend less than five minutes preparing it.

This has created a huge market for healthy convenience food that can be eaten anywhere.

The findings follow the publication of a study which revealed that children who miss breakfast or eat high fat foods such as chocolate, instead of a traditional cereal-based breakfast, perform significantly worse in cognitive tasks. For more information on this particular subject, click here .