Are you trying to lose weight in 2025? Don't skip breakfast

Scientists who studied the diets of hundreds of elderly people in Spain found that eating a balanced breakfast was associated with better weight loss and health markers.

Researchers who followed 383 adults aged 55 to 75 with obesity and metabolic syndrome found that those who ate a big breakfast or skipped breakfast altogether had higher levels of excess weight.

What is metabolic syndrome?

Metabolic syndrome is a medical term that refers to a group of factors that increase the risk of certain chronic diseases. These factors include obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and high levels of fatty compounds called lipids in the bloodstream.

Metabolic syndrome is associated with insulin resistance and can damage blood vessels. But scientists don't know exactly how it works or what causes it.

eat a mediterranean breakfast

Scientists monitored the diets of 383 adults to learn more about the impact of breakfast on BMI, which is calculated from height and weight.

Adults with a BMI of 30 or higher are considered obese, and adults with a BMI of 25 to 30 are considered overweight. In the United States, more than 40% of adults over the age of 20 are obese, and an additional 34% are overweight. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Excess weight leads to many serious diseases health problemsheart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, stroke, and more.

All study participants had been advised to eat a 'Mediterranean' style diet as part of a larger research project. This includes eating lots of vegetables and whole grain foods. Scientists only observed what they ate and did not actively intervene.

Scientists measured the number of calories participants ate at breakfast, as well as health indicators such as BMI and waist circumference, at several points during the three-year study period. They also monitored the quality of the breakfast foods they consumed according to nutrients such as protein, fat, fiber, and carbohydrates.

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Delicious breakfast, better health indicators

Participants who ate a large breakfast or no breakfast at all had a BMI between 2 and 3.5% higher than those who ate a moderate breakfast. For men, this means consuming between 500 and 750 calories. For women, it was 400 to 600 calories. This accounts for about 20-30% of the total recommended daily calories for adults.

For reference, a bowl of unsweetened corn flakes and nonfat milk has about 210 calories, and a banana has about 90 calories. An egg and bread breakfast can range from 200 to 500 calories, depending on how you cook it and how much bread you use. Eggs are consumed.

Other health data, such as waist circumference and blood lipid levels, were best in participants who ate a moderate breakfast. Regardless of the amount of food eaten, people who ate a high-quality breakfast were more likely to have worse health data.

Poor-quality breakfasts are rich in nutrients such as salt, sugar, and saturated fat, which, when consumed in excess, have already been established as risk factors for several diseases.

Breakfast remains 'the most important meal of the day'

The researchers could not exclude the influence of factors such as exercise from the study, nor could they intervene to give participants specific foods. Therefore, it was not possible to establish a causal relationship between a moderately sized breakfast and improvements in health indicators.

However, they suggested that eating moderately sized meals may prevent snacking later in the day.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but what you eat and how you eat it matters,” study author Álvaro Hernaes, a professor at the University of Ramon Llull, said in a statement. “It's important to eat controlled amounts, not too much, not too little, and to ensure a good nutritional composition.”

“Our data show that quality is associated with improved cardiovascular risk factor outcomes. Eating breakfast is just as important as eating a quality breakfast,” he said. added. email online.

The research results on breakfast were published in a magazine. Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.