Skipping Breakfast Not An Effective Diet Method

POSTED: 10:37 a.m. PDT August 1, 2003

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BERKELEY, Calif. -- People who skip breakfast are just as likely to carry extra weight as those who chow down on bacon and eggs every morning, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, once again proving Dr. Atkins may not have been right.

The study found that non-breakfast eaters and meat and egg eaters typically weigh more than those who tend to eat other foods for breakfast.

"Skipping breakfast has already been established as a risk factor for being overweight, but our study is the first to really look at how different breakfast types may affect weight while controlling for lifestyle and demographic variables," said Coralie Brown, co-author of the research paper and a graduate student at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health at the time of the study.

The paper was being published in Friday's issue of the "Journals of the American College of Nutrition," and comes at a time when the proportion of American adults who skip breakfast has increased from 14 to 25 percent between 1965 and 1991.

The number of obese adults has also grown, jumping from 23 percent in 1994 to 31 percent in 2000, according to statistics from the Centers from Disease Control and Prevention.

"More and more Americans are skipping breakfast as the pace of our lives becomes increasingly hectic," noted Gladys Block, a UC Berkeley professor of nutritional epidemiology and principal investigator of the study.

"What our study shows is that if the goal is to lose or maintain weight, skipping breakfast is not a good way to go about it. Skipping breakfast may be just as bad as eating a chunk of cheese first thing in the morning."

The researchers analyzed data from more than 16,000 adults who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994.

The data included body mass index measurements, age, gender, rage and other demographic information. The researchers also controlled factors such as physical activity and smoking and placed participants in one of 10 breakfast categories based on the foods they reported eating every day.

"It appears that foods with low levels of insoluble fiber, such as meat and eggs, are linked to excess weight," Brown explained. "That could be because insoluble fiber takes longer to digest, so you feel full longer. That may prevent overeating later in the day."

As for those who skip breakfast being overweight, the researchers said one possible explanation could be that they already were overweight and are trying to cut down on calories by skipping a meal.

However, studies have found that this practice often leads to eating larger meals later in the day, which contributes the most to weight gain, rather than spacing the calories out throughout the day, which is healthier.