Research has shown that there would be no differences in metabolism, but a more abundant breakfast makes you feel less hungry. The expert: “The best light evening meal”
A study published in Cell Metabolism seems to shuffle the cards of the saying «breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper» which is based on a belief: getting the majority of your daily calories in the morning optimizes weight loss because it allows you to burn them more efficiently and quickly.
Two groups and same weight loss
Instead, it would appear that eating the largest meal at the beginning or end of the day does not affect it how the body metabolizes calories. The researchers came to this conclusion involving 16 healthy men and 14 women who were overweight or obese. They were randomly invited to follow an isocaloric diet for 4 weeks characterized by a more substantial breakfast or dinner respecting the macronutrient balance of 30% protein, 35% carbohydrates and 35% fat. After a one-week break with calories balanced throughout the day, each subject followed the opposite diet for 4 weeks. Analysis of diet control and metabolism measurement showed that subjects have lost on average just over 3 kg during each of the 4-week periods. However, participants reported that on days when breakfast was more abundant they felt less hungry throughout the day and this, of course, can promote weight loss.
However, dinner must be light
“It is true that the study has a short duration and that the sample is small, but it suggests two important aspects that convert into easy practical advice to adopt every day”, explains Stefano Erzegovesi, nutritionist and psychiatrist, expert in preventive nutrition and food disorders. «First: don’t skip breakfast, prepare it so that it is balanced between carbohydrates, proteins and fats and that it is easily digestible. Therefore, limit eggs and bacon and give more space to wholemeal bread, dried fruit, jam and yoghurt, or porridge or wholemeal cereal flakes with milk or vegetable drink. Second: don’t gorge yourself in the morning thinking you need to eat more because it is the most important meal. Energy consumption is no different than in the evening. Moving towards the evening we are, however, more resistant to insulin. This means that the cells “open the doors” to the entry of sugars with more difficulty and the body must, as a compensation mechanism, produce more insulin. Because of this the ideal is that the last meal of the day is the lightest and is consumed at least two hours before going to sleep. Clinically we see people who have dinner and go to rest immediately afterwards but, the following day, report that they have less good alertness and concentration, in short, they struggle to restart. In the meantime, the scientific community will continue to study how meal times affect the mechanisms that regulate metabolism”.
November 15, 2022 (change November 15, 2022 | 15:21)
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