If you have not been eating a hearty breakfast (a bowl of cereal does not count) like your grandma told you, you need to read the references below. In my opinion, it is best to eat breakfast like you eat supper. And make it plant-based.
High energy breakfasts may improve diabetes symptoms, help with weight loss
Newsweek (3/19, Dovey) reports that a study of “11 women and 18 men with both obesity and type 2 diabetes” indicated “that high energy breakfasts are great for weight loss.” Investigators found that “in addition to promoting weight loss…energy-rich meals also improve diabetes symptoms.” Researchers also noted that three meals a day require less insulin than fewer meals. The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society.
Eating large meals earlier in the day may help prevent obesity
On the front of its Science Times Section, the New York Times (8/22, D1, Rabin, Subscription Publication) reports a recent review of 50,000 adult Seventh Day Adventists over seven years offers the latest evidence that “we should front-load our calories early in the day to jump-start our metabolisms and prevent obesity, starting with a robust breakfast and tapering off to a smaller lunch and light supper, or no supper at all.” In the article, Mark P. Mattson, chief of the National Institute on Aging’s laboratory of neurosciences, said, “Twenty years of work on animals shows that compared to those that have constant access to food, those on intermittent fasting diets live longer, their brains function better as they get older and the nerve cells respond to the period of going without food by increasing their ability to cope with stress.” The findings were published in the Journal of Nutrition.
Study explores impact of skipping breakfast on heart health
Reuters (10/2, Rapaport) reports research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests “people who skip breakfast may be more likely to develop atherosclerosis…than individuals who start each day with a hearty meal.”
TIME (10/2, MacMillan) reports that the investigators found “people who ate less than 5% of their daily calories at breakfast were 2.5 times as likely to have generalized atherosclerosis…compared with those who ate the largest breakfasts.” Meanwhile, “those who had low-calorie breakfasts were at increased risk for early signs of plaque in their arteries, as well.”
Forbes (10/2) contributor Alice G. Walton writes that “there’s a big caveat: People who skipped breakfast also had significantly less healthy lifestyles in other ways.” For instance, “they were more likely to be overweight.” Additionally, they “more likely to have a poor diet, smoke and drink more alcohol, which are all serious heart-risk factors.”
