- A scientist rules out long promoted idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day
- He claimed that the idea may have stemmed from marketing strategy to promote high sales on certain products
- A research was done involving one group of people who eat a breakfast containing 700 calories or more and another group who only drank water until lunch
Health experts have long promoted the idea that eating breakfast is beneficial to health as it plays vital role in boosting energy and metabolism needed by humans. But recently, a study suggests that claims saying breakfast is the most important meal of the day have little scientific basis.
As mentioned in an article written by Lexi Finnigan which was published on The Telegraph, Dr. James Betts, a senior lecturer in nutrition at the University of Bath said the idea that breakfast is good to perk up metabolism may stem from marketing campaign strategy which is designed to increase sales on cereals, eggs and bacon.
Betts added the ‘benefits’ of eating early have not actually been scrutinized properly further disclosing that the problem is that these benefits, although logical sounding, are largely assumptions based on observational studies and had never actually been tested.
“As soon as doctors find out that an overweight patient skips breakfast they’ll often tell them to make sure they eat it every day,” Betts was quoted saying.
To test whether breakfast boosts health, Dr. Betts conducted a research involving one group of people who eat a breakfast containing 700 calories or more and another group who only drank water until lunch.
As a result, Betts found that those who had skipped breakfast ate more lunch but not enough to make up the 700 calorie deficit.
The doctor also found skipping breakfast did not affect fat levels or make people gain more weight.
However, the study did show that people who ate breakfast burn off the extra calories – mainly through greater physical activity such as indulging on light exercise.
In addition, the research did not look at whether eating breakfast improves one’s mood or thinking skills, or the effects of caffeine from tea or coffee.
Meanwhile, Professor Peter Rogers, a psychology professor at Bristol University specializing in nutrition, said: “Most of us could do with eating less. Given that it’s probably the easiest meal to skip, maybe skipping breakfast occasionally could be that opportunity.”
Post a Comment