Another reason to eat breakfast

A recent study reinforced what momma always said: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Now we also know that regularly eating breakfast can help prevent excessive weight gain in teenagers.

This study looked at 2216 adolescents, watching them as they grew from age 15 to 19. The group that ate breakfast regularly gained the least weight during the study period; the group that never ate breakfast gained the most.

Why would regularly eating breakfast help control weight gain, and thereby prevent obesity? Breakfast choices tend to themselves be healthy foods, including whole grain cereals, milk, fruit, and yogurt. There is also evidence that eating breakfast itself helps modulate appetite for the remainder of the day, which helps prevent overeating later in the day.

Regularly eating a balanced breakfast also provides food energy for the morning hours, and can prevent the late-morning “crash” than many teenagers experience a few hours before lunch. This is especially true if breakfast includes sources of food energy that are slowly metabolized, like healthy fats, proteins, and unprocessed whole grain products. So pay attention to your momma, and eat your breakfast!

Explore posts in the same categories: In the news, Nutrition

Tags: breakfast, obesity, overweight

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