1er February 2011 – Contrary to what some studies have shown, eating a hearty breakfast would not help with weight loss. It could even have the opposite effect!
This is what German researchers say, after studying the eating habits of 280 people suffering from obesity and 100 other participants with a standard weight. Subjects in both groups were asked to keep a diary of all their meals and snacks for 10 days and 14 days, respectively. The goal: to determine if eating a high calorie breakfast leads to eating less the rest of the day.
According to this study, it is not. People who eat a lot in the morning (about 600 calories) consume on average the same amount of calories for lunch and dinner as those who eat little (190 calories) or who skip breakfast. So, regardless of their weight, those who enjoy a hearty breakfast ingest 400 to 500 calories more each day than those who are satisfied with a light breakfast.
At first glance, these conclusions run counter to those of previously published studies (including one conducted in 2008 among 94 obese women2), who claimed that a high calorie breakfast helped with weight loss. In fact, these studies had mainly looked at the distribution of calories over the 3 meals, as part of a controlled diet. They had not evaluated the effect of a large breakfast on total calorie intake outside of any weight loss diet.
To check whether eating light in the morning actually helps to lose weight, German researchers in a second study advised the following “treatment” for their overweight patients: eat as much in the morning as needed to get there. satiety, favoring low-calorie foods (less than 150 calories / 100 g). According to Volker Schusdziarra, who conducted the study, the results, about to be published in the European Journal of Nutrition, are very encouraging.
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1. Schusdziarra V, Hausmann M et al, Impact of breakfast on daily energy intake – an analysis of absolute versus relative breakfast calories, Nutr J. 2011 Jan 17; 10 (1): 5.
2. On this subject, see our new A hearty breakfast: a key to losing weight ?.
