[LifeStyle] Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?

[#Steeven.™]

That breakfast is the most important meal of the day is a phrase we've heard for as long as we can remember.

It is good for you, for your metabolism, it prevents you from eating late and keeps you in shape.

We know it by heart.

But some scientists believe that this is a myth. And that it will not become true no matter how much we repeat it.

Studies show that skipping breakfast is more common among people who are overweight or obese.

 

But this can be a dangerous trap. When the sale of ice cream increases, so does the number of people with sunburn. Does that mean ice cream causes heat stroke?

This association may mean something about breakfast, or perhaps about the type of people who eat it: more active, with better eating habits and a healthier life.

Beyond defending that breakfast is part of a healthy lifestyle, a report from the UK's National Obesity Observatory concluded that "it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship with Body Mass Index (BMI, or weight) or if breakfast is just one of the many factors that contribute to a healthy weight. "

 

Breakfast to the fore
The few clinical studies that exist that altered people's eating habits show that there is no impact on anatomical measurements.

The largest, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, asked 300 overweight or obese people to skip breakfast for four months.

"There was no difference in the number of pounds lost," says David Allison, in charge of the study from the University of Alabama.

"Regarding weight, at least in adults, it seems that it indicates that (breakfast) is a myth."

According to the professor, people who skip breakfast are probably just trying to control their own weight.

And one of the dangers for those who are used to not taking it and start to do so is that it can lead to weight gain, if they do not eat less the rest of the day.

 

So are governments wrong to incentivize breakfast intake?

"If they are recommending it for weight control, then at this point it is not a justified recommendation"; Allison assures.

Alison Tedstone belongs to one of the many institutions worldwide that says breakfast is a good thing. And it points to a study showing that people who skip breakfast tend to be heavier, which we already know is an association, not causality.

But Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, agrees that "the evidence is not at all conclusive about eating breakfast."

However, he says that it is the easiest meal to consume correctly during the day and that skipping it inevitably carries the risk of eating something unhealthy between meals which in turn leads to a constant struggle to achieve the necessary balance of nutrients , by not starting the day well.

"It is an easy meal to maintain a healthy diet, to control the rest of the day."

 

What is a "healthy breakfast"?
There is no such thing as a perfect breakfast, but Tedstone recommends "thinking fiber" every morning.

"We are not consuming, on average, enough fiber in our diet, and it is easy to incorporate it into breakfast."

"Eating oatmeal is cheap and tasty," he says.

Like oatmeal, a high-fiber breakfast includes fruit, whole-grain toast, and cereals.

But some of the high-fiber cereals may contain salt or sugar to make them more palatable.

"It's very difficult. I think breakfast cereals are very misleading."

He assures that it is necessary to check the labels since some have less sugar attached and that fresh or dried fruit can make them more palatable.

"I urge people to eat a piece of fruit with breakfast. Fruit is much better than juice as it contains fiber."

 

Fuel for the brain
Another big argument in favor of breakfast is that it improves children's performance at school.

A study by Cardiff University published in 2015 was the latest association between a healthy breakfast and performance in the classroom.

But these reports are under the same lens as those who find a link between breakfast and weight.

"It seems quite plausible that skipping breakfast as a child is a sign of a poor family environment - with a family unable to provide adequate breakfast for the child - which is probably the reason why the child does not perform well in school." says David Rogers, a professor at the University of Bristol.

 

So what we do?

"If you're used to having breakfast, I think you should make it your healthiest meal of the day."

"But if you are one of those who have skipped it all your life, I'm not going to tell you that you should have breakfast, but I'm going to encourage you to think about it," says Jebb.

Instead, Allison suggests that people concerned about their weight should do both: eat and skip breakfast to see what's best for them. What is certain is that, in either case, they should not swallow a bread with sausage at 11 in the morning.