Having breakfast may not be helpful for losing weight after all

It is often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but according to a new article published Wednesday in the BMJ, it will not help you lose weight. The study has not revealed any tangible evidence that taking a regular breakfast helps us reduce our calorie intake and prevent weight gain. Even more damning, it has even been proven that skipping breakfast altogether would be better for our waistlines – although you probably need to find better ways to stay in shape.

There are good reasons to eat early in the morning, especially if you are young. Research has shown that eating a healthy breakfast regularly (think of fruits, vegetables and whole grains) helps children and teenagers develop normally and stay active in school. Many public health organizations and doctors have also recommended adding a balanced breakfast to your routine to prevent obesity or promote weight loss.

The theory behind this advice is simple: Eating early will speed up your metabolism and prevent you from feeling hungry and eating too much at subsequent meals. Some studies have demonstrated this theory. However, these studies are usually observational, which means that they are only looking for indirect badociations between two things (in this example, eating or skipping a breakfast and losing weight or underweight). obesity) in a group of decent size. But in recent years, some randomized controlled trials – often considered the best standard of evidence – have not found the same link.

"The problem is that those who eat breakfast tend to be different from those who do not. Therefore, the problem with observational studies is that it may not be good to eat breakfast, but rather to lead a healthy lifestyle and broader food choices that translate into benefits. for weight, "senior writer Flavia Cicuttini, an epidemiologist at Monash University in Australia. , told Gizmodo by email.

Cicuttini and his team have decided to gather and badyze as many relevant clinical trials on the subject as possible to help resolve the issue, what scientists call a meta-badysis. They examined 13 trials conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan between 1992 and 2016 and involved more than 500 adults of different weights and body mbad indexes. Some of the trials tested whether adding or skipping breakfast could affect weight; others have asked if breakfast will affect a person's total calories in a day.

"We found that those who ate breakfast tended to consume about 260 extra calories a day more and gained an average of 0.44 kg. [roughly a pound]Said Cicuttini. "It is important to note that there was no evidence of metabolic improvement in those who were having breakfast or who were less likely to overeat later in the day."

This trend has continued regardless of the place of study or the weight of volunteers.

The authors added that their conclusions should not be considered as definitive. On the one hand, the overall quality of the evidence they examined was deemed low. Few studies blinded the volunteers, which meant that they knew whether they were having lunch or not. Admittedly, this can be difficult to hide practically from anyone, but studies have also rarely blinded the researchers who had to measure and calculate the results obtained by the volunteers – another science not-no. The team found that all studies also presented a high or unclear risk of bias.

The authors say that it will take more research, preferably from large-scale and high-quality trials, to be absolutely sure of nothing. But in the meantime, said Cicuttini, it is clear from the findings that an average person should draw from his research.

"The key message is that if a person likes to have breakfast, that's fine," she said. "However, nothing indicates that we should be encouraging people to change their eating habits to include breakfast in order to prevent weight gain or obesity … This could do the opposite ! "