Eating breakfast reduces evening snacking

ISLAMABAD: Eating protein-rich food such as eggs and meat for breakfast can act as a healthy appetite suppressant and hence reduces unhealthy snacking in the evening, a new study has found.     

The impact of consuming breakfast on appetite and evening snacking in young people was examined by Heather Leidy, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Live Science Reported.

Leidy used 20 overweight adolescent females of ages 18-20 to conduct her study.

The sample was made to do three of the following activities; skip breakfast, consume a high-protein breakfast consisting of eggs and lean beef, or ate a normal-protein breakfast of ready-to-eat cereal during the course of the research.

Every breakfast consisted of 350 calories and was matched for dietary fat, fibre, sugar and energy density. The high-protein breakfast contained 35 grams of protein.

Participants completed questionnaires and provided blood samples throughout the day.

Every day, prior to dinner, a brain scan using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to track brain signals that control food motivation.