Do you skip the first meal of the day thinking that it'll help you shed those extra kilos? Stop it right away! As per a study published in the Nutrition Journal, skipping breakfast increases food cravings, which ultimately leads to weight gain. In order to conduct the study, researchers observed breakfast habits of young women with an average age of 19.
Eating a meal rich in protein right in the morning, increases young adults' levels of a brain chemical associated with feelings of reward, which may reduce food cravings and overeating later in the day, research showed.
Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at University of Missouri in the US, "Our research showed that people experience a dramatic decline in cravings for sweet foods when they eat breakfast. However, breakfasts that are high in protein also reduced cravings for savory - or high-fat - foods. On the other hand, if breakfast is skipped, these cravings continue to rise throughout the day."
Leidy studied the effects of different breakfasts on participants' levels of dopamine, a brain chemical involved in moderating impulses and reward, including food cravings. "Dopamine levels are blunted in individuals who are overweight or obese, which means that it takes much more stimulation - or food - to elicit feelings of reward; we saw similar responses within breakfast-skippers," she said.
However, the researcher said the findings may be generalized to a larger population of adults.
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