Breakfast and weight loss

Eating breakfast is sometimes promulgated as a component  of an effective weight-loss strategy. Correlational studies have suggested that breakfast consumption is associated with lower body weight. As the thinking goes, breakfast promotes morning satiety, thus suppressing caloric intake later in the day. Skipping breakfast, however, results in increased caloric intake later in the day.

But most people are breakfast eaters. Data exist suggesting that the adverse effects of skipping breakfast may occur only in habitual breakfast eaters. In other words, it may be harmful only if you suddenly change your habits.

So, what should we be telling our “breakfast-skippers” about breakfast and weight loss?

A randomized trial was conducted on habitual breakfast skippers to evaluate the effects of eating breakfast versus not on energy, macronutrient consumption, and physical activity over one month.

Subjects were required to eat within 90 minutes of waking up and finish eating by 8:30 a.m. No eating or snack restrictions were imposed after breakfast. Subjects were 18-55 years of age, ate breakfast (at least two days/week), slept at least six hours per night, and woke up consistently before 8 a.m. Biometric and food diaries were completed.

Breakfast-skippers randomized to eat breakfast consumed more calories (266) per day and weighed more (0.7 kg) at one month. No changes were observed in caloric compensation with subsequent meals nor in self-reported hunger or satiety. No additional physical activity  was observed with the addition of breakfast.

Weight gain was minimal, and the time frame of the study was short. Even so, I think the take-home message from this is: Don’t tell habitual breakfast with the goal of losing weight. It appears that the opposite may be true.