Does Skipping Breakfast Help with Weight Loss? Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? Researchers have been trying to answer that question for years, particularly as it relates to achieving a healthy weight. Read on to learn what the latest randomized clinical trials are telling us, and whether intermittent fasting is really an effective weight loss strategy.
While intermittent fasting has been lauded for its health benefits, including promoting cellular maintenance and protecting against aging and neurodegenerative diseases, popular wisdom maintains that skipping breakfast is bad for you. Often labeled as the most important meal of the day, breakfast is said to “boost metabolism” and reduce hunger. But is this really true? Mounting evidence suggests that eating three meals a day may not be important for weight loss. David Allison, director of the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center and senior investigator on a recent long- term study, commented: “The field of obesity and weight loss is full of commonly held beliefs that have not been subjected to rigorous testing; we have now found that one such belief does not seem to hold up when tested. This should be a wake- up call for all of us to always ask for evidence about the recommendations we hear so widely offered.” (1)In this article, we’ll explore the evidence for and against eating breakfast with all its nuances, including an ancestral approach, the problems with association studies, a review of the biochemistry of intermittent fasting, and relevant results from randomized controlled trials. Did our ancestors eat breakfast? For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that I like to look at health questions through an ancestral or evolutionary lens in addition to looking at the latest scientific research. So, did early human anthropoids eat breakfast? The truth is, it’s hard to know for sure, but it’s thought that most hunter–gatherers ate intermittently depending upon food availability. A midday meal or lunch was rarely or never consumed and a small breakfast (consisting of the remainders of the previous evening meal) was sometimes eaten. Some snacking may have occurred during daily gathering, however the bulk of the daily calories were taken in the late afternoon or evening.” (4)It appears that the three- meals- a- day paradigm was not adopted until the Agricultural Revolution around 1. A healthy start to the day kick starts your body and is believed to make you more alert and assertive. There are many breakfast cereals on offer with the. I love healthy oatmeal recipes for breakfast. On cold mornings, I like to make a hot bowl of oatmeal to satisfy my sweet cravings while still eating healthy.Frankly, the fact that we eat three times a day is somewhat arbitrary and seems to be based on when it was most convenient to eat during farm work and harvest. And while there is undeniably an association between a lean body type and breakfast consumption, correlation does not imply causation, and many of these association studies have been inappropriately used to shape recommendations for weight loss. I have talked before about the healthy user bias on my blog in the context of red meat. Because “eat breakfast” is such popular health advice, people who are committed to their health are more likely to eat breakfast. They are also likely to avoid smoking, manage stress, and eat more fruits and vegetables, all things associated with a healthier weight. Breakfast eaters tend to be leaner, but this doesn’t mean that they are lean because they eat breakfast. Can you lose weight faster if you skip breakfast? While the healthy user bias is difficult to avoid when designing a research study, there are also more intentional breaches of good science mixed up in this question. A recent meta- analysis looked at the proposed effect of breakfast on obesity (PEBO) and found that the PEBO was subject to two common practices used to distort scientific evidence. Authors of breakfast studies were guilty of biased interpretation of their own results, misleadingly citing others’ results, and improper use of causal language. This is similar to confirmation bias or the “a priori” effect. When you presume something to be true, like “eating breakfast causes weight loss,” all of your research and interpretation flow from that belief. The second was what they called “research lacking probative value” (RLPV). This is where experiments either continue to be performed about questions that have already been sufficiently answered or are designed in such a way that they simply cannot advance scientific knowledge about the question. As the authors put it: “. But to really determine if the breakfast–weight connection is causative, we need long- term, randomized trials. In their results, they reported a trend suggesting that women who had to make the most substantial changes to their initial eating habits achieved more weight loss. Essentially, habitual breakfast skippers tended to do a bit better when they had to eat breakfast, and habitual breakfast eaters tended to do better when they had to skip breakfast. First, the researchers only observed a trend for this interaction effect, meaning that it did not reach the level of statistical significance (p < 0. Second, the study was widely reported in the scientific literature as having shown that eating breakfast led to weight loss, even though the authors never concluded anything of the sort. Unfortunately, poor reporting of this study shaped scientific and popular opinion for several decades. The belief that breakfast is important for weight loss prevailed, despite a few smaller studies that found that skipping breakfast had no effect or even a potential beneficial effect on weight loss. In 2. 01. 3, Cornell researchers performed a randomized crossover study in 2. The no- breakfast group ate fewer calories over the entire day but was also slightly less active and had slightly more variable glucose levels in the afternoon and evening at the end of the trial. Body mass and fat mass did not differ between the two treatments, and neither did indexes of cardiovascular health. Contrary to the popular notion that breakfast “boosts metabolism,” resting metabolic rate did not differ between the groups. Breakfast also did not provide any significant suppression of energy intake later in the day. It seemed like the evidence was mounting against popular belief. Finally, in the largest long- term, multisite clinical trial to date, researchers attempted to settle the debate once and for all. They randomized 3. They reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: “A recommendation to eat or skip breakfast for weight loss was effective at changing self- reported breakfast eating habits, but contrary to widely espoused views this had no discernable effect on weight loss in free- living adults who were attempting to lose weight.” (1. Over 9. 2 percent of subjects complied with the recommendation they were given, but it had no impact on weight loss. They also separated individuals based on their baseline breakfast habit and found no interaction between initial breakfast habit and success of the intervention. This is directly contrary to the near- significant interaction found by Schlundt and colleagues in 1. What type of breakfast were they eating? But wait, does a bowl of cereal and toast with jam have the same effect as an egg omelette, greens, and a sweet potato? Food quality matters more than food quantity, right? When “breakfast” is lumped into one big category, there’s not conclusive evidence for or against it, (1. But researchers have looked at different types of breakfast and weight loss as well, with some intriguing results. In 2. 01. 5, a study in China found that obese teenagers ate less at lunchtime if they had an egg breakfast compared to a bread breakfast. The egg breakfast was reported to increase levels of satiety hormones, keeping them full for longer. The egg breakfast group also had significantly more weight loss. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a “no- breakfast” group in this study, so it’s hard to know how the egg breakfast would have compared to intermittent fasting. Researchers in Missouri performed a randomized trial in 2. They randomly assigned 5. They found that the egg- and- beef breakfast led to voluntary reductions in daily food intake and reduced reported daily hunger. It also prevented fat mass gains over the 1. It would be very interesting to see the metabolic response to breakfast omission in a group of healthy individuals eating a nutrient- dense, evolutionarily appropriate diet. Skipping breakfast and exercise. What about fasting in relation to exercise for weight loss? In the fed and fasted states, we preferentially oxidize (“burn”) different substrates to produce energy. Could exercising in one state or the other provide benefits for weight loss? In 2. 01. 2, researchers in London performed a crossover study, monitoring food intake and energy expenditure in 4. They found that total energy intake, energy expenditure, and activity levels did not differ between conditions. The subjects were instructed to eat or skip breakfast, and the researchers measured their energy expenditure during the day. Interestingly, they found that breakfast skipping did not affect energy expenditure, fat oxidation, or the thermic effect of food if you looked at the entire 2. When people skipped breakfast, energy expenditure was lower during the morning but higher during the evening and sleep than those who ate breakfast. Breakfast skipping increased fat oxidation and reduced carbohydrate oxidation in the morning relative to breakfast eating and increased carbohydrate oxidation during the evening. For one week, they ate before their morning workout. The second week, they ate breakfast after their morning workout. Their results? The fasted workout caused the men to burn more body fat, but it also increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol after exercise relative to the fed workout. It should be noted that these participants were not adapted to fasted exercise and that “fat- adapted” people might have a smaller cortisol response to fasting. I’ll explore this idea more in the next section, when we dive into the biochemistry. What do these studies tell us? Energy, Weight Control and More. Breakfast kick- starts your metabolism, helping you burn calories throughout the day. It also gives you the energy you need to get things done and helps you focus at work or at school. Those are just a few reasons why it’s the most important meal of the day. Many studies have linked eating breakfast to good health, including better memory and concentration, lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and lower chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and being overweight. It’s hard to know, though, if breakfast causes these healthy habits or if people who eat it have healthier lifestyles. But this much is clear: Skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating. When you wake up, the blood sugar your body needs to make your muscles and brain work their best is usually low. Breakfast helps replenish it. If your body doesn’t get that fuel from food, you may feel zapped of energy - - and you'll be more likely to overeat later in the day. Breakfast also gives you a chance to get in some vitamins and nutrients from healthy foods like dairy, grains, and fruits. If you don’t eat it, you aren’t likely to get all of the nutrients your body needs. Many people skip the a. That’s a mistake. You need food in your system long before lunchtime. Some studies say yes. Researchers have found that, on average, people who eat breakfast are thinner than those who don’t. That could be because eating foods with protein and fiber in the morning keeps your appetite in check the rest of the day. But it doesn’t guarantee you’ll fit into those skinny jeans. A recent study compared weight loss among people who ate breakfast with those with didn’t. The meal didn’t make any difference. If you’re dieting, don’t think cutting calories by skipping the meal will help. Studies show that most people who lose weight and keep the weight off eat breakfast every day. On the other hand, you need to pay attention to what, when, and how much you eat. Their growing bodies need the nutrients and fuel. Kids who don’t eat in the a. They may also be cranky or restless. And it isn’t just their moods that can suffer. Their school work can, too. One study showed that kids who ate breakfast had higher test scores than those who didn’t. Most children don’t get all the vitamins and minerals they need from just lunch and dinner. Kids who skip breakfast are more likely to eat junk food during the day and be overweight. One study showed that teenagers who ate breakfast every day had a lower body mass index (BMI) - - a measure of body fat based on height and weight - - than teens who never ate the meal or who sometimes did. If your youngster doesn’t want to eat in the morning at home, pack something he can have on the way to school or between classes. Opt for fruit, nuts, or half a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Continued. A Doughnut Won’t Do. You don’t need to eat a big meal for breakfast, but it’s a good idea to have something small within an hour of waking up. Even last night’s leftovers zapped in the microwave will do. Resist that pastry or doughnut, though. Your best bet is a mix of foods that have carbohydrates, protein, healthy fats, and fiber. Carbs will give you energy right away, and the protein will give you it later on. Fiber keeps you feeling full. Try a whole- grain cereal, low- fat milk and fruit, or a breakfast smoothie made from low- fat yogurt, fruit, and a teaspoon of bran. Nuts or whole- grain granola bars are also easy options. Sources. SOURCES: Kids. Health. org: “Breakfast Basics.”Harvard Health Publications: “Breaking the Fast.”Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: “Breakfast.”Kaiser Permanente: “The Importance of Eating a Good Breakfast.”American Diabetes Association: “The Importance of Breakfast.”Brown, A. W. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, published online Sept. University of Alabama at Birmingham: “The Breakfast Debate: New Study Determines Whether It Helps With Weight Loss.”The Hospital for Sick Children: “The Importance of a Healthy Breakfast.”American Academy of Pediatricians: “The Case for Eating Breakfast.”. All rights reserved.
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