Do You Eat Breakfast?

Most experts agree that children need to eat breakfast, but there seems to be some discrepancy amongst experts as to whether adults need to do the same.

The Center for Science In The Public Interest on their website say that its not clear-cut as to whether adults need to have that morning meal in order to lose weight, and that much of the research conducted into adult's consumption of breakfast and the benefits of doing so, is funded directly by Kelloggs.[2] However, The American Dietetics Association in their press release indicate, that eating breakfast can help in weight management.[3]

Some individuals do very well maintaining a healthy body weight while not eating breakfast, which indicates that the decision to eat breakfast or not should be made on a case by case basis. Generally, though, breakfast is a good opportunity to be consuming foods which contain nutrients that are commonly missed out in the diet and will mean that the body and brain has ready access to energy to start the day.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans identifies amongst other common nutrient deficiencies, that Americans commonly are deficient in calcium, fiber, vitamin E and C.[4] Most of these nutrients can be found in most foods such as fruit and fortified ready-to-eat cereals with milk.

The American Dietetics Association suggests that a healthy breakfast could consist of:

• Ready-to-eat whole grain cereal topped with fruit and a cup of yogurt;
• Whole-grain waffles topped with peanut butter, fruit or cotta cheese;
• Hot cereal topped with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice or cloves;
• Vegetable omelet with a bran muffin and orange juice.

Or if you don't usually eat breakfast, but would like to eat breakfast, the American Dietetics Association gives these suggestions:

• Lean ham on a toasted English muffin and vegetable juice;
• Cheese pizza and orange juice;
• Grilled vegetables mixed with beans and cilantro topped with cheese;
• Heated leftover rice with chopped apples, nuts and cinnamon and fruit juice

Sources:

[1] Holly R. Wyatt, Gary K. Grunwald, Cecilia L. Mosca, Mary L. Klem{dagger}, Rena R. Wing{dagger} and James O. Hill Long-Term Weight Loss and Breakfast in Subjects in the National Weight Control Registry Obesity Research 10:78-82 (2002) Full Text

[2] Center for Science In The Public Interest Nutrition Action Health Letter

[3] American Dietetics Association Press Release Feb. 2004,
American Dietetic Association Says Breakfast Is the Most Important Meal of the Day

[4] 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Further Information:

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