Breakfast in Human Nutrition

Breakfast is often referred to as the most important meal of the day. From a physiological perspective, breakfast is unique among our meals because it is eaten after the longest of our postprandial fasts. In the morning, after you have gone without food for as long as 12 hours, your glycogen stores are low. Once all of the energy from your glycogen stores is used up, your body starts to break down fatty acids to produce the energy it needs. But without carbohydrates, fatty acids are only partially oxidized, which can reduce your energy levels.

Eating breakfast boosts your energy levels and restores your glycogen levels ready to keep your metabolism up for the day. From the gastronomic perspective, breakfast was traditional, dating back to Greek and Roman breakfasts (ariston and Ientaculum respectively), the least demanding of our meals in culinary terms in that it consisted for centuries of a simple meal of bread, cheese, and honey, oil and maybe wine.

By the 16th century, Europeans began to see breakfast as an important meal in terms of overall health. Thomas Cogan, an English schoolmaster in Manchester, in describing the skipping of breakfast, argued that to “suffer hunger long filleth the stomach with ill humor”.

Whilst breakfast meant simple foods for the masses, including gruels based on oats, rice, and other cereals, the rich and ennobled began to include eggs and meat as a component of breakfast. At present, a significant proportion of the literature on the benefits of breakfast is focused on health outcomes rather than dietary outcomes, although the two are frequently linked. The main thrust of the present consortium is to develop a greater understanding of the food and nutrient intakes at breakfast and their contribution to overall diet quality across many geographic regions rather than any impact of breakfast on health outcomes.

Why breakfast is so important?

Controls the Body's Weight

People who regularly eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight or obese. Research is ongoing as to why this is the case. It is thought that eating breakfast may help you control your weight because it prevents large fluctuations in your blood glucose levels, helping you to control your appetite. Moreover; breakfast fills you up before you become really hungry, so you’re less likely to just grab whatever foods are nearby when hunger strikes.

Boosts Brainpower

Studies suggest that not having breakfast affects your mental performance, including your attention, ability to concentrate, and memory. This can make some tasks feel harder than they normally would. Children and adolescents who regularly eat breakfast also tend to perform better academically compared with those who skip breakfast. They also feel a greater level of connectedness with teachers and other adults at their school, which leads to further positive health and academic outcomes.

Reduces the Risk of illnesses

Compared with people who don’t have breakfast, those who regularly eat breakfast tend to have a lower risk of both obesity and type 2 diabetes. There is also some evidence that people who don’t have breakfast may be at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.