Study: Big Breakfasts Curb Hunger, But Don’t Result In Weight Loss

Considering that most people consume a majority of their calories at night, a popular weight loss strategy is to eat a big breakfast, which supposedly curbs one’s appetite for the rest of the day while giving the body all day to burn off the morning calories.

However, a new study has found that simply isn’t true. Instead, the study — conducted by Yale University’s Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center — has found the strategy produces the same results as does skipping breakfast and eating at night.

“With calories either morning-loaded or evening-loaded, the researchers found nearly identical weight loss,” says Yale’s Dr. David Katz. “Thus, this study belies the contention that eating early alters metabolism in a way that favors greater weight loss.” While eating a big meal in the morning might not result in weight loss, it does curb a person’s appetite for the rest of the day, researchers found. “We know that appetite control is important to achieve weight loss, and our study suggests that those consuming the most calories in the morning felt less hungry, in contrast to when they consumed more calories in the evening period,” says Alexandra Johnstone, a co-author of the study.

Eating a big breakfast instead of a larger meal later in the day did not impact weight loss, according to a new clinical trial that compared people eating most of their daily calories at breakfast with those eating the most at dinner. https://t.co/kNANU845F3

— CNN (@CNN) September 9, 2022