Skipping Breakfast Does Not Help Lose Weight: Study

A recent study says breakfast may not be the most important meal of the day.

Research by the University of Bath in the U.K holds that people who eat a healthy breakfast may not experience any drastic changes in their body weight.  The experts studied the impact of breakfast on 33 participants who were lean and otherwise healthy. The subjects either ate nothing or followed high caloric breakfast for nearly six weeks. It was observed the metabolic rate of participants who skipped eating breakfast did not change and neither did they overeat during lunch time, reports the Time.

Following this research, scientists teamed up with the University of Alabama at Birmingham to look at the effects of eating breakfast on 300 obese volunteers for 16 weeks who were divided into three groups- one that skipped eating breakfast, another of breakfast eaters,  and those who stuck to healthy diet in the mornings.

Their findings revealed no differences in the body weight of people from all three groups but, breakfast eaters were able to burn 442 calories more than non-eaters. Starting the day with healthy and nutritious food controlled blood sugar levels that translate into long-term health benefits.

"That's equivalent to running on the treadmill for an hour or so for many people and that was just accumulated from being generally more active throughout the day," said James Betts, study author and senior lecturer in nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath, reports the Time.

However, the authors are unsure in what way eating the morning meal aids weight-loss. Their research does not encourage people to starve and miss out eating meals in appropriate proportions. They also added breakfast eaters are more physically active and feel fit throughout the day than those who do not eat.

More information is available online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.