July 17, 1985

GENERATIONS of Americans have been brought up to believe that a good breakfast is one of life's essentials. Stoking up the body at the outset of the day, we have all been told, and told again, is as necessary as putting gasoline in the family car before starting a trip. But for many people the thought of food first thing in the morning is unappealing. So despite all the cajoling, they still skip breakfast. Between 1977 and 1983, the latest year for which figures are available, the number of people who skipped breakfast increased by 33 percent - from 8.8 million to 11.7 million - according to the Chicago-based Market Research Corporation of America. For those who feel twinges of guilt about not eating breakfast, however, there is some good news. Several studies in the last few years indicate that, for adults especially, there may be nothing wrong with skipping breakfast. ''Going without breakfast does not affect performance,'' said Arnold E. Bender, former professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London, ''nor does giving people breakfast improve performance.''

After eight hours as Acting President last Saturday, George Bush has quickly slipped back into the relative obscurity of the Vice Presidency. Today, as President Reagan continued his recovery from cancer surgery, Mr. Bush resumed his characteristic low profile in a job that has few defined duties other than presiding over the Senate. ''Life goes on,'' the Vice President said. ''I think the news is so encouraging that's it's really going to slip back just as if the President were off on vacation somewhere.''

''At the moment, it is one of the best guarded airports in the world. That is one less place to worry about.'' -David Kyd, spokesman for the International Air Transport Association, speaking of the Athens airport.

The handling of casualties by the Air Force after the 1983 truck bombing of the Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon is described as indefensible ''medically, morally, or ethically'' in an internal memorandum prepared by an Army officer. The Air Force officer in charge of the transfer of seriously wounded marines to Europe has defended the operation. Readiness to handle such casualties in the European Command after future terrorist attacks or a larger conventional war has been sharply criticized in various internal military documents. Two memorandums written shortly after the Beirut bombing reveal a little-known story of competition between the Air Force and the Army to care for victims of the bombing who were taken to Europe, and to reap the publicity rewards from providing the care. In the course of the struggle, Air Force officers, who took charge of patient distribution, shunted wounded servicemen to an overburdened Air Force hospital while better-prepared Army hospitals were pushed into the background, according to the memorandum by the Army officer who complained of the decisions.

A plan to rehabilitate low-income housing with a $10 million bank loan has been shelved because of the Koch administration's refusal to accept a stipulation that the city stop housing families with children in a welfare hotel near Times Square. Deputy Mayor Stanley Brezenoff said yesterday that the city could not go along with the plan, first proposed late last year, because it needed whatever hotel space it could get to accommodate the growing number of homeless families. The objective of the loan was to rehabilitate 200 city-owned apartments for welfare families with children so that fewer children would have to live in the Times Square area, according to Fred Papert, the president of the 42d Street Development Corporation and the project's coordinator. Commitment From Chase The corporation is a nonprofit agency founded 10 years ago to encourage the rehabilitation of the Times Square area.