MARIKA SBOROS: Skipping breakfast could be good for weight loss, new research shows
Some scientists say that old adage about eating like a king in the morning is a myth peddled by cereal companies
Nutrition experts regularly say you should “eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper”. Parents also regularly tell their offspring that breakfast is “the most important meal of the day”. Now Australian researchers at Monash University School of Public Health are challenging that conventional “wisdom”, more so if you need to lose weight. In a study published in The BMJ (British Medical Journal), the Monash scientists say that breakfast might not be a good strategy for weight loss, regardless of your established breakfast habits. “Caution is needed when recommending breakfast for weight loss in adults as it could have the opposite effect,” they say. The study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials investigating the effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake. (Randomised controlled trials remain the “gold standard” of scientific research.) The authors acknowledge study limitations, saying the quality of included stud...
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