Heavy Breakfast May Not Assist Weight Loss

Consuming a heavy breakfast, as being propagated and thought by many may not be linked to a lesser caloric intake through the day and subsequent weight loss.

Various researches suggest that the myth about eating a big breakfast helping to lose weight is not true.

Dr Volker Schusdziarra, from the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Center of Nutritional Medicine at the Technical University Munich, and colleagues, conducted a study to see the effect of a heavy breakfast on total daily caloric intake and subsequent weight loss.

Schusdziarra and colleagues said that the available information about the role of breakfast energy in total daily energy intake is confusing and contradictory. Some researches claim that eating a high calorie breakfast leads to greater overall caloric intake. While on the other hand health professionals strongly believe if breakfast should be the biggest meal of the day in order to stay at a decent weight eat lesser calories through the day.

So to evaluate these findings they conducted a study. For their study 280 obese and 100 normal weight volunteers were recruited and asked to keep food diaries and record their food intake for up to 2 weeks. Some of the participants ate a big breakfast, some had a small one, and some skipped it altogether.

The results showed that higher caloric consumption at breakfast was linked to greater overall daily intake in both normal weight and obese participants.

The study concluded with the note that "Reduced breakfast energy" intake is associated with lower total daily intake.

Researchers state that people should consider cutting back on breakfast calories as a "simple option to improve their daily energy balance", because the "overall energy intake largely depends on the post-breakfast rather than breakfast intake pattern".

Hence keeping the breakfast small, like other meals, helps to keep the total caloric intake under control. The results of the study showed that people ate the same at lunch and dinner, regardless of what they had for breakfast.

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Therefore eating a big breakfast has to be followed by eating a lot less the rest of the day, to keep the calories in check if trying to lose weight.

Sensible weight loss involves eating fewer calories while cutting down on saturated fats and sugar, and eating at least 4 to5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day.

Despite all the above findings breakfast undoubtedly is an important meal. Rather it is well researched and proved that people who eat breakfast tend to follow a more balanced diet than people who skip it. They are also less likely to be overweight and less prone to stomach and acidity problems. Missing breakfast makes one snack on unhealthy foods. Above all a very nutritious meal, essential for the body is skipped, which cannot be made up for later in the day.

Reference: Impact of breakfast on daily energy intake - an analysis of absolute versus relative breakfast calories; Volker Schusdziarra et al; BMC Nutrition Journal 2011

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Source-Medindia