Breakfast is better than a snack in the evening

Losing weight is not just about controlling what you eat and how many calories you eat. The timing of meals also has a significant impact on metabolism. A new study has just confirmed the importance of breakfast and the harm of snacking in the evening.

The daily body clock and sleep regulate how the food we eat is metabolized. How fats and sugars are burned depends closely on the time of day they are consumed. Our body works according to a circadian rhythm and is programmed to burn fat during sleep. When breakfast is skipped or snacking takes place in the evening or at night, fat burning is delayed. These are then stored.

The team of researchers led by Kevin Kelly, Owen McGuinness, Carl Johnson of Vanderbilt University in the USA, carried out experiments aimed at monitoring the metabolism of subjects of middle and older age, after consumption. either breakfast for the first cohort, or a snack in the evening (equivalent to breakfast), for the second cohort.

The different groups received the same meals for lunch and dinner, at the same times 12:30 p.m. and 5:45 p.m. The duration of the night fast was the same for both groups, but at different times.

While the contents of the meals were identical, the group receiving a snack in the evening saw their metabolism change, and lead to poorer fat burning compared to the group who ate breakfast. This study has a significant impact on how we can lead a food reform in order to lose weight. It is important not to skip breakfast, eat dinner early in the evening, and not to snack in the evening. Respecting the daily nightly fast is important to optimize fat burning.
“Eating breakfast and avoiding late-evening snacking sustains lipid oxidation”.

Kevin Parsons Kelly, Owen P. McGuinness, aciej Buchowski, Jacob J. Hughey, Heidi Chen, James Powers, Terry Page, Carl Hirschie Johnson. PLOS Biology