Scientists from the University of Bath and some other institutions conducted a study to get a better view of the interaction between breakfast and exercise. According to the study, which was published in April in The Journal of Nutrition, skipping breakfast before exercise might prompt the body to eat less throughout the day.
“Skipping breakfast before exercise could conceivably help with weight loss simply by reducing total food intake across the day,” says study co-author Javier Gonzalez, PhD, associate professor at the University of Bath in the England.
Weight management is a modern health statement and exercise is seen as the way to reduce or maintain weight. The problem around it is that many people eat more afterwards or move less, thus compensating for the energy utilised. According to previous studies, this is because the brain is against energy deficits in the body and sends constant signals so as to increase hunger or move less.
Consuming breakfast before exercise does not help either for weight loss since our body relies on the carbohydrates in those meals as their primary source of energy. It is believed that the brain pays close attention to the carbohydrate levels in the body and tries to replenish it, once depleted.
On the other hand, skipping breakfast forces the body to utilise stored carbohydrates and fats, thus reducing weight. However, many scientists believed that the body would still overcompensate the calorie deficit but it had not been investigated.
The experiment involved 12 active young men of age 20 to 26 were asked to report to the university’s exercise lab on 3 separate mornings. The first morning, they were given a 430 calorie oatmeal and did no such physical activities. The second morning they were given the same amount of oatmeal and rode a stationary cycle for an hour at a moderate speed. The third morning they skipped the oatmeal and did the same exercise for an hour and did not eat till lunch.
The men stayed in the lab till lunch and ate till they felt “comfortably full”. They ate without any distractions such as TV or mobile. The meal was warm but relatively bland so as to ensure that the participants ate only till they were satisfied not because they were distracted or the food was tasty. Upon leaving, the participants were given food baskets and instructed to eat only from that basket to keep track of their calorie intake. Using mathematical models and a device called Actiheart, the scientists calculated the amount of calories the men burned while breathing.
Results
When the men ate and rested, they ended up with 490 surplus calories. When they ate and worked out, the men burned almost the same number of calories as the intake. Lastly, when they skipped breakfast they maintained an energy deficit of around 400 calories despite eating more in lunch than the previous days.
The study though is small scale since it does consider only young men and uses oatmeal as the only mode of breakfast. It also failed to explain the reason behind the deficit.
By:- Nikhil Vatsa
