For some people, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It gets the day started and provides the body with fuel for the tasks ahead. Now, some scientists have found another benefit to starting the day with a good breakfast. Their study shows that eating a big breakfast and a small dinner can help a person burn twice as many daily than having a small breakfast and a big dinner.
For their study, scientists from the University of Lübeck in Germany recruited 16 men. For the first three days, the men were instructed to consume a low-calorie breakfast and high-calorie dinner. This was reversed for the next three days, with the men eating more calories for breakfast than for dinner. The results have been published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The researchers found that having a big breakfast caused the participants to burn 2.5 times more calories than when the meals were structured the other way around. They also found that the food-induced increase of blood sugar and insulin concentrations in the body were lower on the big-breakfast days. The men were more likely to snack and crave sweets on the days when they had a low-calorie breakfast.
The findings may have huge implications for people looking to lose weight. As of 2016, nearly 40 percent of adults in the U.S. were considered to be obese. The information may also help those dealing with insulin resistance and those with higher than normal blood glucose levels. The first things that we eat and drink during the day has been shown to have a considerable impact on cognitive performance, mood, and energy levels throughout the day.
