A new study found that people who eat the most in the morning don’t metabolize food more efficiently. There is a possibility.
Frontloading calories earlier in the day reduces hunger but does not affect weight loss.
There is an old saying in dieting: “Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, eat like a pauper.”This is based on the belief that consuming the majority of your daily calories in the morning will burn calories more efficiently and quickly, optimizing weight loss. According to new research cell metabolismthe way a person’s body metabolizes calories is not affected by whether they eat their largest meals early or late in the day. , found that you may feel less hungry later in the day, making weight loss easier in the real world.
“There are many myths about meal timing and how it affects weight and health,” says senior author Professor Alexandra Johnstone. Researcher in the field of appetite control at the Institute. “This has been largely driven by the circadian rhythm field. But those of us in the nutrition field were wondering how this could be possible. Where does the energy go? We decided to take a closer look at how time of day interacts with metabolism.”
For this study, researchers recruited healthy overweight or obese subjects to control their diet and measure their metabolism over time. did. Each participant was randomly assigned to eat either a morning meal or an evening meal for her 4 weeks. The diet was isocaloric (same number of calories), with a balance of 30% protein, 35% carbohydrate, and 35% fat. Each participant then switched to the opposite diet for 4 weeks after a 1-week intermediate washout period, after which calories were balanced throughout the day. In this method, each participant acted as their own study control.
Throughout the study, subjects’ total daily energy expenditure was measured using the double-labeled water method. This is an isotope-based technique that examines the difference between the hydrogen and oxygen turnover rates of water in the body as a function of carbon dioxide production. The primary endpoint of this study was energy balance as measured by body weight. Overall, the researchers found that energy expenditure and total weight loss were the same for the morning and evening meals. lost.
Secondary endpoints were subjective appetite control, glycemic control, and body composition. “Participants reported that their appetites were better controlled on the days they ate more breakfast and that they felt fuller the rest of the day,” says Johnston. It can be very useful in a real-world environment, rather than a research environment.”
One limitation of the study is that it was performed under free-living conditions rather than in the laboratory. Additionally, certain metabolic measurements were only available after breakfast, not after dinner.
Johnstone said this type of experiment could be applied to studies of intermittent fasting (also called time-restricted diets) to determine the optimal time for people following this type of diet to burn calories. It is pointed out that it may be useful for
In the future, we will expand our study of how time of day affects metabolism by conducting a study similar to the one described here in subjects who work shifts. It’s a schedule. Because of their disturbed circadian rhythms, these individuals may exhibit different metabolic responses. “One important thing he should note is that when it comes to timing and diets, it’s unlikely he’ll have one diet that fits everyone,” concludes Johnstone. “Clarifying this will be the future of dietary research, but it is very difficult to measure.”
Reference: “Timing of daily caloric load affects appetite and hunger responses without altering energy metabolism in healthy obese subjects” Leonie C. Ruddick Collins, Peter J. Morgan , Claire L. Fife, Joan AN Philippe, Graham W. Hogan, Klaas R. Westerterp, Jonathan D. Johnston, Alexandra M. Johnstone, 9 September 2022, cell metabolism.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2022.08.001
This study was funded by the Medical Research Council and the Scottish Government, Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division.
