Skipping Breakfast May Not Aid Weight Loss

February 26, 2002

Tue Feb 26,10:27 AM ET

By Stenson

SAN DIEGO (Reuters Health) - Though skipping breakfast might seem like

an easy way for dieters to cut calories, new research finds that the

majority of people who are successful at losing weight and keeping it

off eat breakfast every day.

" My guess is that eating breakfast helps you spread out your hunger and

manage your food intake better throughout the day, " said study author

Dr. O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

" If you start out the day by eating something, you don't get this

burning hunger later that causes you to overeat, " he told Reuters Health.

The researchers analyzed data on nearly 3,000 people, mostly women,

enrolled in the National Weight Control Registry, an ongoing study of

adults who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept the weight off for a

year or more. The average participant in the new analysis had lost about

70 pounds.

Results showed that 2,313 participants (78%) had breakfast 7 days a

week, while another 151 (5%) had breakfast 6 days a week and 136 (5%)

had breakfast 5 days a week. Only 114 (4%) said they never ate breakfast.

The study, which was funded by General Mills, was presented here Sunday

at a nutrition conference organized by the American Society for Clinical

Nutrition and other medical groups.

The researchers did not gather detailed information on every food the

study participants ate for breakfast, though overall they tended to

consume a diet consisting primarily of carbohydrates, with 20% to 25% of

daily calories from fat, according to Hill. The US government recommends

a carbohydrate-rich diet focusing on whole grains, fruits and

vegetables, with no more than 30% of daily calories from fat.

Hill said the new findings offer some food for thought to the many

dieters who are skipping breakfast as a weight-loss strategy.

" Look at the people who are losing weight, " he said. " They are eating

breakfast. "

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