Breakfast: To eat or not to eat?
Breakfast has been praised as the “most important meal of the day” for decades, yet a 2021 study conducted on 30,000 adults found that 15% of them skip breakfast. Is this just a clever marketing slogan to boost Cap’n Crunch sales, or should we be paying more attention to our morning meal?
The research on breakfast is about as clear as the leftover milk from a bowl of Lucky Charms. While some researchers argue that “skipping breakfast could contribute to ‘metabolic impairment’” and Type 2 diabetes, others say metabolism is reliant on the “total amount of food consumed throughout the day, not the time when you consume those calories.”
The decision to eat breakfast — and how early to eat it — likely depends on your own hunger cues and nutritional needs. But there are a few key factors that may influence your decision.
Skipping breakfast is not a good weight loss strategy
Many believe the simple math of the calories-in-calories-out model of weight loss — if you reduce your calorie intake and increase your exercise, you will lose weight. If that were true, skipping breakfast would mean fewer calories, which would equal weight loss. The problem is that our bodies are, to put it simply, not that simple. Studies have shown that foregoing the first meal doesn’t lead to weight loss.
Instead, a literature review of nine studies in 2021 found that “All nine studies included in the review reported a statistically significant association between breakfast skipping and ... weight gain.”
The review found that diets like intermittent fasting that advise breakfast skipping lead to an increase in the production of leptin, a hormone that “causes a ravenous appetite,” which then makes breakfast skippers “more likely to crave for high caloric food.”
If you are skipping breakfast to lose weight, it’s not a sustainable strategy. Along with the research stating it doesn’t work, your weight is determined by much more than the calories-in-calories-out model would have you believe. As Louise Pollard, a dietitian and intuitive eating counselor, recently described in an Instagram post, your weight is determined by many different factors including your hormones, genetics, sleep, medications, stress and more.
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Skipping breakfast could mean missing important nutrients
Skipping breakfast may also reduce the quality of your diet, a 2021 study from Ohio State University finds, because “Adults who skip breakfast are likely to miss out on key nutrients” such as calcium, vitamin C, iron, fiber, and other vitamins and minerals found in fortified breakfast foods.
A literature review published in the journal Nutrients cited six studies comparing breakfast consumers to breakfast skippers that also emphasize “the importance of breakfast intake in shaping overall optimal nutrient intake.”
The 2021 study found that “breakfast skippers had taken in fewer vitamins and minerals than people who had eaten breakfast. The differences were most pronounced for folate, calcium, iron, and vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and D.”
More than 50% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, and that percentage rises with age. Seven in 10 Americans are deficient in calcium and 5 in 10 Americans are deficient in vitamins A and C, according to The Biostation. Breakfast foods are often packed with essential nutrients; if breakfast isn’t your thing, you may want to find another way to get those nutrients into your diet.
Skipping breakfast may affect your energy
“Would you start a long road trip in your car with the tank on empty?” asks registered dietitian Beth Czerwony in an interview with the Cleveland Clinic. “Think of eating breakfast the same way. You’re asking a lot of your body to get moving using only your reserves.”
If you feel low on energy in the mornings, eating breakfast is the simplest solution.
The Better Health Channel says “breakfast eaters tend to be more physically active in the morning than those who don’t eat until later in the day.” The added energy from a morning meal can also combat brain fog.
Breakfast is an important part of the day, but it is also important to listen to your body. If eating food right when you wake up makes you feel nauseous, it’s alright to wait a bit. Experiment with different kinds of breakfast foods — hot, cold, savory, sweet — to see what tastes best and sits well in your stomach. You can play around with quantity too; if you eat large meals or snacks later at night, you may find you aren’t as hungry in the mornings and require a smaller breakfast.
But breakfast’s title as “most important meal of the day” is definitely about more than just Cap’n Crunch.