If you have to choose one meal among the three daily meals that can help with weight loss, perhaps only breakfast can receive this honor.

The idea that "having breakfast helps with weight loss" has a long history. The conclusion that breakfast can reduce daily hunger comes from more than 60% of the experimental results in a review study. Similarly, the phenomenon that metabolism briefly increases after having breakfast also makes couch - potatoes eager to try.

However, the consequence of this "golden rule" is that even common high - calorie breakfasts are regarded as weight - loss tools. Whether it's Chinese rice porridge and shaomai or Western waffles and oats. Obviously, high - calorie carbohydrates are the opposite of what dieters want.

The weight - loss effect of "having breakfast" has been exaggerated.

In the past, breakfast was once elevated to the level of a diet pill. By sponsoring scientific laboratories to publish favorable conclusions, breakfast cereal brands launched marketing campaigns, making high - sugar and low - fat American breakfast cereals a popular food.

As for independent researchers who are not involved in commercial interests, based on 13 experimental studies from 1990 to 2018, they found that there is no significant correlation between having breakfast and body shape. This extra meal actually increases the average daily calorie intake by 260 kcal.

Having breakfast helps with weight loss, but this help is limited.

In fact, more fitness enthusiasts have achieved weight loss by skipping breakfast. Whether it's intermittent fasting starting at noon or fasting training after getting up, it proves that skipping breakfast doesn't necessarily lead to weight gain.

Of course, there is a greater consensus that for "night - owl types" or those who don't have a breakfast - eating habit, forcing themselves to have breakfast for the sake of weight loss may be unnecessary.

And "breakfast lovers" don't need to starve themselves and force themselves to fast. They should pay more attention to the nutritional balance of ingredients. Compared with high - carbohydrate diets such as steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and puffed cereals, choosing low - GI foods such as whole - grain soy milk and eggs is actually more important than getting tangled up in whether to have breakfast or not.

I. "Having breakfast" and "weight loss"

Before the weight - loss effect of having breakfast was exaggerated, there were scientific conclusions that having breakfast helps with weight loss.

In 2018, researchers from Purdue University published a review conclusion related to breakfast and weight loss based on 22 valid experiments. For example, 66% of the experiments indicated that having breakfast significantly reduces all - day hunger. At the same time, 43% of the studies found that having breakfast can significantly reduce the level of ghrelin after a meal.

The expectation of many people that breakfast can boost metabolism was also addressed in this experiment. In the review, only one experimental conclusion pointed out that there is an increase in basal metabolism after breakfast, but this phenomenon is only limited to a short period.

However, since then, the weight - loss effect of having breakfast has been exaggerated. After the claim that "skipping breakfast can cause gallstones", it is also said that skipping breakfast will make you gain weight.

This concept was probably first put forward by the American breakfast cereal brand "Kellogg's" for promotional purposes.

Investigations found that the experimental studies promoting the benefits of breakfast were sponsored by brands such as Kellogg's and Quaker. This is similar to Coca - Cola sponsoring scientific experiments claiming that "sugar is not the main cause of obesity", which is driven by commercial interests.

The drive of commercial interests leads to the subjectivity and one - sidedness of experimental results.

Professor James Betts from the Department of Nutrition at the University of Bath in the UK studied the experimental details of the research on the health benefits of breakfast on the market and found that almost all the experiments were observational, lacking control groups and mechanism research, and the conclusions drawn were unreliable.

However, major cereal brands constantly cited these incomplete experimental results in their advertising, making "having breakfast" a widespread weight - loss myth among the public. And these cereal brands happened to catch up with the "low - fat trend" in the United States, promoting low - fat weight loss but adding a large amount of refined sugar, which quietly makes people gain weight.

Even nearly a century later, the breakfast myth caused by American cereals still exists. For example, Zhang Wenhong's recent statement that "there is no need to have porridge for breakfast" also advocates avoiding high - carbohydrate and high - sugar eating habits.

II. Breakfast helps with weight loss, but the help is limited

There is no direct causal relationship between having breakfast and weight loss.

For example, successful dieters have more regular morning exercise habits. Compared with having breakfast regularly, exercise may be the main reason for their weight loss.

Professor Alexandra Johnstone, who studies appetite at the University of Aberdeen, also proposed that the causal relationship between having breakfast and weight loss may be because those who skip breakfast have less nutritional reserves.

In other words, breakfast helps with weight loss, but this help is limited.

For example, in a 2014 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the experimenters invited nearly 300 participants to participate in a 16 - week survey. In the experiment, half of the participants had a habit of having breakfast, and half did not. They were evenly divided into a control group, a breakfast group, and a non - breakfast group.

The results showed that regardless of whether the participants had a habit of having breakfast in the study, having or not having breakfast in the experiment had no obvious effect on the weight - loss results.

The younger generation who goes to bed late and gets up late, or those who don't have a breakfast - eating habit, forcing themselves to have breakfast for the sake of weight loss may lead to additional calorie intake.

The BMJ, through statistics from 13 experimental studies from 1990 to 2018, found that those who skip breakfast have an average daily calorie intake 259.79 calories lower than those who have breakfast, which is statistically significant.

The reason why breakfast leads to "eating more" may be that a bowl of high - GI white rice porridge for breakfast is not filling, and people will still be hungry by lunchtime.

So, more fitness enthusiasts start to choose low - GI high - protein breakfasts or simply skip breakfast to help with fat loss.

One of the popular ways to implement intermittent fasting recently is to skip breakfast and shorten the eating window. Whether it's from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. or from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., one only eats within 6 - 8 hours a day, and the specific eating time is not specified. In theory, fasting may have similar effects.

However, current scientific research on fasting is still insufficient. Forcing "fasting" can also bring side effects to some breakfast lovers, such as the risk of overeating, low blood pressure, irritability, and headaches. At present, both the nutritional theories supporting and opposing the breakfast - weight - loss theory have "limited evidence".

III. What to eat for breakfast is more important than whether to have breakfast or not

Although there is no exact "best breakfast time", there is a greater consensus in the scientific community - to have breakfast at an appropriate time.

Specifically, individual differences lead to different morning operation modes of each person's body and different physical constitution needs. For example, for those with gallstones or eating disorders, having breakfast on time is more important than those who get up late and "sleep until lunch".

Rather than getting tangled up in whether to have breakfast or not, what to eat for breakfast may be more important.

Traditional breakfast foods often contain high carbohydrates and high calories, and people tend to eat more unconsciously under the comforting effect of "breakfast won't make you fat".

A glutinous rice ball in the morning for Shanghai people is a thick calorie bomb. Wuhan's hot dry noodles are a bowl full of oil - soaked carbohydrates, and Beijing's fried dough twists are fried flour. And Western breakfast cereals and fruit yogurt are often pseudo - healthy foods with a large amount of added sugar.

High - GI refined carbohydrates cause blood sugar to rise rapidly, stimulate the release of insulin, increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase, and turn on the "storage mode" of adipose tissue, accelerating obesity.

Weight loss depends on the overall daily calorie and nutrient intake. Breakfast may not be necessary, but if you choose to have breakfast, make sure to have a reasonable nutrient intake.