* On average we spend four minutes on breakfast - 2 minutes preparing it and 2 minutes eating it.

* Lack of time is the reason most people give for refusing a traditional British breakfast.

* One third of adults will have bacon and eggs for breakfast at the weekend whey they are under no pressure to rise early.

* Forty per cent of the country regularly skip breakfast and 15 per cent never eat it at all.

Half of all 25-34 year olds and 20 per cent of children skip breakfast.

* Oats contain high levels of soluble fibre which act as a sponge, soaking up cholesterol - helping to lower cholesterol levels.

* In the UK we consume 27 million eggs per day.

Boiled eggs are the most popular, followed by scrambled and fried.