The importance of three square meals a day may be a myth.
Two recent studies seem to indicate that breakfast is not integral to a good diet or losing weight.
In the first study, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham traced the dieting habits of 309 overweight or obese people. There was a control group, a group asked to eat breakfast and another asked to skip that first meal of the day.
After 16 weeks of tracking the weight and eating habits of the participants, it was found that there was no significant difference in weight loss.
As stated in the abstract, "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 discernible effect on weight loss."
The study was published in August issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in a paper titled, "The effectiveness of breakfast recommendations on weight loss: a randomized controlled trial." It was authored by Emily J. Dhurandhar, John Dawson, Amy Alcorn, Lesli H. Larsen, Elizabeth A. Thomas, Michelle Cardel, Ashley C. Bourland, Arne Astrup, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, James O. Hill, Caroline M. Apovian, James M. Shikany and David B. Allison.
Another study at the University of Bath, in England, looked at the benefits of fasting. Here, 33 physically fit participants were selected and separated into two groups. The first ate at least 700 calories of food by 11 a.m., with a minimum of half the calories eaten within the person's first two hours of activity. The second group fasted, not eating anything until after 12 p.m.
After six weeks, those in the study had almost no change in weight, resting metabolism, cholesterol and blood sugar, whether or not they were in the group fasting or the group eating a breakfast in the first few hours of waking. Deciding to eat breakfast or not had no real effect on people's metabolism.
The paper stated, "Contrary to popular belief, there was no metabolic adaptation (ie, increased resting metabolism) to 6 weeks of daily breakfast nor any meaningful suppression of energy intake later in the day."
This study was published in the same issue of Clinical Nutrition, in the article, "The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in lean adults." This one was authored by James A. Betts, Judith D. Richardson, Enhad A. Chowdhury, Geoffrey D. Holman, Kostas Tsintzas and Dylan Thompson.
Photo: Petras Gagilas
