A bigger breakfast could help you burn calories

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism has concluded that eating a large breakfast in the morning can help you burn more calories.

Researchers found that healthy young men with a normal body mass index burned more than twice the number of calories when they ate a bigger breakfast and a small dinner than those who ate a small breakfast and a large dinner.

The study determined that diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT), the amount of energy required to process food, was higher in the morning than at night.

“Identical calorie consumption led to a 2.5-times higher DIT increase in the morning than in the evening after high-calorie and low-calorie meals,” the study said. “The food-induced increase of blood glucose and insulin concentrations was diminished after breakfast compared with dinner. Low-calorie breakfast increased feelings of hunger, specifically appetite for sweets, in the course of the day.”

Although the new research suggests the time of food intake is important in preventing obesity, DIT constitutes only a portion of total daily calories burned.

“DIT is clearly higher in the morning than in the evening, irrespective of the consumed calorie amount; that is, this physiological rhythmicity is preserved during hypocaloric nutrition. Extensive breakfasting should therefore be preferred over large dinner meals to prevent obesity and high blood glucose peaks even under conditions of a hypocaloric diet.”