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Claims that breakfast is a health panacea may be unsupported
- vbuwivbiu 7y agoshould be titled "eating cereal for breakfast" as it's specifically about cereal other kinds of breakfast (full-English etc) are healthy
- ubercow13 7y agoMore healthy than skipping breakfast?
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoIt depends. Growing people may need to eat more frequently. Personally I like to have breakfast at my first break at 10am, so I’m fasting for longer each day. I’m not that far off 40, and if I’m honest I probably don’t need an evening meal either.
- INTPenis 7y agoYeah I came here to make the same observation, this article is, as most things on HN, very US-centric. Being a european I've mostly eaten granola, porridge, müsli or sandwiches with cheese and meat for breakfast. But I've still always heard that breakfast is an important meal, without any association to cereal. Just the fact that I'm hungry in the morning when I wake up should be an indicator. Everyone's mileage may vary.
- asaph 7y agoI'm never hungry in the morning. That should be an indicator that I should skip breakfast, which I often do.
- foobarian 7y agoI always thought the focus on breakfast came from our peasant roots. My ancestors were field workers and eating a huge breakfast + lunch made sense from an energy input standpoint.
- ken 7y agoThat's another factor that this summary (and possibly the cited research) ignores. What do you do before lunch? The two people in the video appear to be knowledge workers.
- ubercow13 7y agoMaybe you're hungry in the morning _because_ you eat breakfast
- GordonS 7y agoI'm in the UK, and since being a kid I've always heard "breakfast is the most important meal of the day". This was never specifically about cereal, but that's what most kids in the UK eat for breakfast - especially given at the time we were all told fat was evil, and would basically kill us. Nowadays I don't eat breakfast, as it helps control my weight, and TBH I don't miss it. When I started doing this, I thought about those "truths" I'd been fed as a kid, and suspected they came out of paid-for pseudoscience. A year or so ago I actually looked into this, and sure enough, all these claims about breakfast are from studies sponsored by Kellogs, other cereal brands, or companies closely associated with them. Governments base policy on these kind of claims, and over time they become unquestioned "truths" - paid-for, corporate science shilling really is an absolute fucking scourge on society.
- stuaxo 7y agoFull English is healthy ? I know we have come full circle with regard to protein and fats, but having that much fried food all at once doesn't seem like a the most healthy thing. It usually comes with baked beans - the sauce has a high sugar content. I don't eat particularly healthily myself, but saying full-English is healthy just sounds like nonsense.
- BFLpL0QNek 7y agoIt is healthy-ish, depending exactly what you have, how you cook it and quantity and how frequently you have it. The healthy version will look significantly different than the greasy spoon version dripping in oil. I’ll do a full english with scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, mushrooms in a little butter, home cooked beans, 2 rashers of rindless bacon with a tiny amount of oil fried or grilled, maybe a slice of black pudding, I may even put avocado on the toast.
- nradov 7y agoIt's probably fine if you're going to spend the next 12 hours plowing a field with a team of oxen.
- lustysocietyorg 7y agoDavid Sinclair, Ph.D. on Extending Human Lifespan & the Science Behind Aging – The Rich Roll Podcast (2019-04-23). https://podcastnotes.org/2019/04/23/sinclair-2/ https://podcastnotes.org/2019/04/23/sinclair-2/ Quotes: “If I could tell you to do one thing to live longer, it would be to eat less” Sirtuin and mTOR pathways respond to how much we’re eating. If we eat less, these pathways get kicked into action “I try to eat smaller meals, I try not to overeat, and I try to skip meals”
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- asaph 7y agoMy 1 person study concludes that breakfast cereal tastes terrible. I'd much rather have yogurt or eggs for breakfast.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoThe articles title is: Eating breakfast is not a good weight loss strategy, scientists confirm And then goes on to say: if you’ve been eating breakfast to stave off weight gain Did I miss something?
- ses1984 7y agoYou missed that people might do things for no scientific reason?
- asaph 7y agoAnd this is inconsistent how? Same quote, more context: > if you’ve been eating breakfast to stave off weight gain, researchers are increasingly learning that breakfast might have the opposite of the desired effect — it can promote more calorie consumption and weight gain.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y agoEating isn’t a weight loss strategy. In other news, circles are round. Film at 11.
- Josh379 7y agoEnsemble averaging has not worked well for me when it comes to dieting. I’m at a point where I’ve found what works well for me: high protein Mediterranean eat when I’m hungry. I tried skipping breakfast and wound up being skinny-fat. I tried keto and got fat and muscular. You might fit cleanly into a bin, like me, you might not.
- ryannevius 7y agoWhat is "skinny-fat"? Is it an issue of uncontrolled weight fluctuations?
- jddj 7y agoTypically it's more like thin but with poor muscle definition. Not overweight but not fit. But assuming the gp was exercising with weights etc, they might mean that they felt they weren't overweight but were carrying excess fat in certain areas, or considered themselves bloated.
- sethammons 7y agoThinner and softer; noodle arms. You can be thin or lean, but skinny-fat is marked by soft muscle.
- neogodless 7y agoI believe it's using "fat" as a catch-all term for an unhealthy body composition. You appear skinny but lack muscle. I don't think you necessarily have to have "hidden" excess fat to be called this term.
- lostapathy 7y agoIt means your BMI is “normal”, but it’s normal because you lack muscle to offset having more fat than ideal.
- A2017U1 7y agoNutritional guidelines have very short lives compared to every other field of science. It's such a minefield of contradictions. Astonished how many pretend a topic so complicated by biology/genetics and routinely proven wrong can be easily broken down into simplistic good/bad buckets (and of course they definitely got it right this time) Saturated fats and salt are next in line to fall, despite how hard the entrenched old guard of health authorities want to ignore the new evidence.
- fmhul 7y ago>Nutritional guidelines have very short lives compared to every other field of science. It's such a minefield of contradictions. Like psychology. And I'm sure there are many other examples.
- api 7y agoNutritional science seems worse, but I think that's because real (not pop) psychologists seem to be giving up on simple good/bad and fad advice. There is so much of this in nutrition because there is profit motive via the food industry.
- fmhul 7y agoDrugs are another industry. We will look back at SSRIs and benzos the same way we look at lobotomy now.
- api 7y agoOnly when we have much better things of course. Progress is being made. The thing about nutritional science is that progress seems like it's just not being made at all. We go from fad to fad.
- lustysocietyorg 7y ago<< Nutritional guidelines have very short lives compared to every other field of science. It's such a minefield of contradictions. >> I live in Europe and the promoted diet has always been the same: More fruits and vegetables, less animal products, less fat, less sugar, less processed food, not too much food in general in order to stay lean. IMO the next change might be general promotion of vitamin and essential fatty acid supplements (notably linseeds or linseed oil). Related: Essential fatty acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid New Canada Food Guide: Some Can't Handle It (2019-01-22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4zWaLE_ik&feature=youtu.be&t=20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp4zWaLE_ik&feature=youtu.be... Dietary Guidelines, 8th edition, USA, 2015-2020 https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/chapter-1/key-recommendations/ https://health.gov/dietaryguidelines/2015/guidelines/chapter... Dr Garth Davis: Americans have become obsessed with Protein (2015-10-28) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCt3IhaUtU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQCt3IhaUtU
- nishparadox 7y agoLast time I read an article, it was "Death of the Calorie". That article tries to imply that simple counting "calories" doesn't actually measure health's correlation to "diets".
- hmd_imputer 7y agoDrinking at least two liters of water per day - unsupported Eating an apple a day - unsupported Saturated fats causing increased cholesterol, thus leading to heart failure - unsupported It seems that almost everything we've been told since childhood to be healthy has no scientific basis whatsoever.
- Pfhreak 7y agoDon't confuse unsupported with no scientific basis. The scientific method allows for making hypothesis that are later demonstrated to be false. It can absolutely be the case that the old recommendations were the best we knew at the time from science, and be unsupported today.
- coldtea 7y ago>It can absolutely be the case that the old recommendations were the best we knew at the time from science, and be unsupported today. It can also absolutely be the case that old recommendations were a mix of old wives tales (with no scientific basic whatsoever), bad papers (replicated and taken as gospel without reproducibility and further study) and studies sponsored by the food industry to promote this or that foodstuff...
- TallGuyShort 7y agoDietary science performs so ridiculously poorly compared to every other branch of science, that I can't simply chalk it up to the inherent nature of scientific progress. There are a lot of variables and complex systems, yes, but you get whiplash from the way so many of these hypotheses turn out to be absolute bullshit every few years. Really the lesson should be that no one should place much confidence at all in any of these ideas until they've actually been supported by many sources for a very, very long time. Branding these things as "current scientific knowledge" is exactly the kind of thing that gets people doubting science, and it's an insult to the rest of science.
- village-idiot 7y agoNo, the saturated fat argument was pure bullshit from day 1. Ansel Keys cherry picked his data and did not do his multivariate analysis correctly. He then went on to bully and threaten anyone who disagreed with him for the rest of his life.
- lincolnq 7y agoFor anyone considering skipping breakfast but finding themselves too hungry, I would recommend trying it anyway. When I eat breakfast regularly I get hungry at that time of day, but once I’ve skipped it for a week or two then my body seems to get used to it and I no longer get hungry at that time. Also, black coffee for me helps suppress my appetite.
- Nav_Panel 7y agoHunger is an interesting feeling. The tide sweeps in, hunger emerges like a wave, a call for action on the horizon. It reaches a crescendo, and then collapses, and disappears. At least, that's how my "routine hunger" feels: eat at time A on day 1, and you'll be hungry at time A on day 2. The thing to remember about hunger as a craving is that it'll always pass if you leave it alone. Have a cup of water and let it go. (please note: this is only referring to short term hunger sensations. there is a longer term hunger, but it feels different, more subtle but more all-encompassing)
- pauljurczak 7y ago> The thing to remember about hunger as a craving is that it'll always pass if you leave it alone. Have a cup of water and let it go. Another option is to use a clock instead of gut feeling. I ignore the hunger until the clock tells me it's been 5 hours since my last meal.
- mattlondon 7y agoIn my personal anecdotal experience, skipping breakfast and instead "fasting" from last night's dinner through to lunch has been really effective at weight control. You are starving by 10am for the first few days you do it, but after that you dont even notice you've skipped eating breakfast. Makes you wonder why you even had breakfast in the first place after a while. I believe that skipping breakfast has now been given a grandiose term of "intermittent fasting" or "intermittent energy restriction diet". I still call it skipping breakfast. I'll still have breakfast at the weekends as its more of a social thing then, but on the usual 9-5 rat race I just skip it and save 10-20 mins of my day usually spent getting/making + eating breakfast. I even skip before a morning workout - so far no problems after many years doing it.
- sys_64738 7y agoConsuming breakfast takes tome so I’ve skipped for awhile now. When I get hungry I usually drink a cup of tea black. I eat an early lunch around 11.30am so that does me until dinner at 6pm. I find a cycle of predictiveness allows me to keep a regular weight which trends downwards if I don’t deviate. I also avoid snack machines at work by never having loose change. I also avoid ‘free food’ unless fruit. Keep sugar to a minimum so no soda and no visits to drive through or donut shops. No soda either.
- nradov 7y ago"Free" snacks in the office cost us a lot.
- willio58 7y agoSkipping breakfast just means increasing the time interval between starting your fast after dinner and breaking your fast during break-fast, call it whatever you want. I find it funny how many people dislike the term intermittent fasting. To me it’s just as silly as the people who attach their whole being to a diet like those living the “Keto life”. Keto and IF are effective ways of losing weight for lots of people including me, but it all just comes down to calorie in calorie out at the end of the day.
- ctulek 7y agoTry Mediterranean style breakfast: eggs, feta/greek/turkish cheese, olives, tomatoes, cucumber/green pepper, and any kind of bread.
- tsjq 7y agothat sounds a lot like my favourite. ! :)
- pauljurczak 7y agoIf breakfast means sugar loaded crap shown on the pictures there, then do yourself a favor and skip it. If your lunch looks similar, skip it too.
- beatgammit 7y agoEat if you're hungry or your doctor tells you too. And when you eat, eat good food. I don't understand why people overcomplicate it. The only difference is if you're trying to lose or gain weight, in which case it makes sense to watch how much and what you eat, when is less important. Follow your body's cues, and plan ahead so you have good options when you're hungry. Personally, my body isn't ready for breakfast for an hour or two after I wake up, but my kids like to eat as soon as they get up, so I get up earlier so my mealtime matches my kids. I get up between 5-6, and my kids get up around 7:30, so breakfast at 8 works for both of us. Before I had kids, I'd wake up later, skip breakfast entirely, and have an early lunch (11 or so). Afaict, the "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" came from breakfast makers (dairy, cereal, etc), not medical research. Breakfast can be important, if you're hungry in the morning.
- nradov 7y agoFollowing your body's cues really doesn't work for everyone. Some people are just hungry all the time and have to learn to ignore those urges.
- dragonwriter 7y ago> Eat if you're hungry or your doctor tells you too. And when you eat, eat good food. > I don't understand why people overcomplicate it. Because it is, in fact, more complicated in practice. For one thing, it can take significant effort to isolate and distinguish hunger that signals need to eat for calories, the sensations produced by habitual expectation of food, cravings due to specific needs but not general caloric needs, and even thirst. > The only difference is if you're trying to lose or gain weight, in which case it makes sense to watch how much and what you eat, when is less important. When can actually be quite important if you are trying to do anything with law with your day besides losing weight when trying to lose, since managing to maintain a calorie deficit while mitigating the impact of the adverse effects of such a deficit and the associated stress on other activities is nontrivial. > Follow your body's cues Your body’s cues are setup to promote overeating when that is possible, because humans aren't actually evolved for constant, reliable food surplus but alternation between surplus and insufficiency.
- Ensorceled 7y agoThis is a surprisingly good article. It addresses "confus[ing] correlation with causation", addresses the "sponsored by Kellogg" problem, and hammers on the bad breakfast issue: "So if you’re going to eat breakfast, seek out foods that give you the vitamins and nutrients you need to stay healthy, like fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich cereals, and eggs. Steer clear of desserts masquerading as breakfast, like high-sugar granola or yogurt."
- bigwheeler 7y agoThey only go into the effects on your health regarding weight loss/gain, but I feel like I get a mental boost on mornings when I eat breakfast (either traditional American or Mediterranean style, never sugar cereal or whatever). The days I eat breakfast, I feel more focused. When I skip it, I’m on the express train to A.D.D. Town.
- rags2riches 7y agoWhen I was young and without a daily schedule, I'd typically end up eating two meals a day. Something like brunch and something like dinner. In adult life, with a typical schedule, I just skip breakfast and have lunch and dinner like everybody else. It's not a problem at all. Getting up and pretty much immediately having something to eat is just a habit. Sometimes I might get a little hungry before it's time for lunch. Then I have a fruit and that's it. I don't think this is bad for my capacity at work at all. Ive done the breakfast routine as well, so I know what it's like. I always notice that I'm not working at full speed when I for example haven't slept well or if I'm about to come down with a cold, so I think I would be able to tell if skipping breakfast was having an impact.
- VK538FY 7y agoAbsolutely painfull. And completely USA-centric. Not a reference to the rest of us. Reminded me of a USian article that was making the rounds a while ago. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/08/magazine/eaters-all-over.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/08/magazine/eate...
- virtualritz 7y agoI love the table with 'breakfast foods'. This is so telling on the difference between diets in cultures and why obesity is such an issue in the US. With the exception of the joghurt there is not a single food in this table that I or most of my friends in Germany would eat for 'breakfast'.
- GordonS 7y agoSadly, a lot of yoghurt nowadays is also loaded with sugar.
- jaden 7y agoSkipping breakfast is my doctor-approved way of keeping my weight in check. I found myself eating a few hours after dinner, so I still have three meals a day, just not at the traditional times. And like others have said here, hunger is almost never a problem. And drinking water is a great way to satisfy the occasional hunger.
- magic_beans 7y agoI'm more likely to skip dinner. I'm too much of a morning person to skip breakfast.
- screye 7y agoHealthcare Triage made a wonderful video on the topic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syleh_6Aopw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syleh_6Aopw The channel is run by Aaron Caroll : Professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine, the Vice Chair for Health Policy and Outcomes Research and the Director of the Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research.