Have you had your fruhstuck, proino, asa gohan or zavtrak this morning? iVillage nutritionist Dr Wynnie Chan takes us on a whistlestop tour of the world's breakfasts

Breakfast isn't called the most important meal of the day for nothing. Making time for eating breakfast is key to a healthy life. A good, nutritious start to the day will help you concentrate and make you more energetic. It may also lessen your desire to snack, helping you to stick to a weight loss or healthy eating plan.

The benefits of eating breakfast have an especially high impact on children. There is mounting evidence from scientific studies that a healthy breakfast is associated with improved performance at school. Breakfasting improves concentration and, consequently, academic achievement.

A healthy breakfast should be high in carbohydrates and low in fat. So a full fry-up, complete with fried bread and sausages, is unlikely to do you any good. In this country, a healthy breakfast can be made up of a wide variety of items such as wholegrain cereals or porridge with reduced fat milk, low-fat yoghurts topped with fruit, fruit juices, wholegrain breads, grilled lean bacon, poached eggs and grilled vegetables.

The global breakfast club

Africa: If you venture as far as East or West Africa, porridge - a runnier version than the one we're used to - is eaten for breakfast. It tends to be made from cassava, millet, rice or corn rather than from oats, and in some parts of Africa dried strips of beef are eaten with the porridge for extra flavour and protein.

Asia: Another kind of porridge, congee, which is made from rice, is popular for breakfast in some parts of China and in Hong Kong. It's normally eaten with a selection of dim sum - assorted small dishes ranging from dumplings filled with steamed meat or vegetables to deep fried pastries. All this is washed down with lashings of Chinese tea.

Rice is also a popular item in other Asian countries, such as Japan and parts of India. Traditionally, in Japan, rice is eaten with pickles, seaweed flakes and miso soup for breakfast - not quite what western stomachs have in mind when the word breakfast is mentioned! In southern India, breakfasts are spicy, consisting of either rice or chapattis served with curries.

Europe: Scandinavians, Germans and Austrians tend to start the day by grazing on a large variety of foods such as cereals, eggs, breads, cold meats, cheese, yoghurt, fruit and fruit juices, as well as tea, coffee, hot chocolate or milk.

Whilst breakfast can be quite substantial in some countries, it's a relatively low-key affair in Greece and Portugal - either a roll or some fruit and yoghurt. Coffee is the preferred beverage, often drunk thick, dark and strong in both Turkey and Greece.

But, the breakfast of choice for the discerning globetrotter has to be the Spanish chocolate con churros. A deep-fried doughnut coated with cinnamon-flavoured sugar is dunked into cup of hot chocolate before eating. Whilst this probably isn't the most balanced or healthy breakfast combination that I can think of, it's one that will certainly prove popular with you and your kids.

So, it doesn't matter whether you just have a quick bite on the way to work or take the time to indulge in a leisurely breakfast in bed, delivered to your door by a suited flunkey and served from silver salvers, breakfast is the only way to start the day.