The fact that you burn calories while eating may sound strange at first. Losing weight with breakfast or even another meal seems pretty unlikely. But that's actually how it is. You've probably noticed that you feel warmer when you eat. This is because the body uses energy during digestion. This results in the so-called food-induced thermogenesis (NIT) and this in turn ensures thatwhen eating earlyaround 10% of the calories gained are burned.
Losing weight with breakfast – When does the body burn more calories?
A new study from Lübeck now proves that this thermogenesis is more pronounced in the morning than at later times of the day. Losing weight with breakfast could definitely be possible. Led by Prof. Kerstin Oltmanns, her team tested the theory on a group of 16 men. All participants were of normal weight. Half of them were given a low-calorie breakfast and a high-calorie dinner, while the other half were given a reverse diet.
Better glucose metabolism in the morning
Based on glucose metabolism, among other things, the values of food-induced thermogenesis were then determined, which confirmed the theory: In the morning, the body burns after eatingmore calories, than later in the day. Nutritionist Juliane Richter, who is also part of the research team, explains in summary: “The results show that an identical calorie intake after both high and low calorie meals leads to a 2.5 times higher NIT in the morning compared to the evening. The increase in blood sugar and insulin levels was significantly reduced after breakfast compared to dinner.”
It is important to emphasize that the amount of food you eat has no influence on the intensity of the NIT, or in other words: If you are on a diet, your body continues to burn more calories in the morning than in the evening. Another interesting finding of the study is that participants who received a low-calorie breakfast also reported greater cravings for sweets and snacks throughout the day.
Balanced and healthy breakfast to lose weight instead of a lavish dinner
This shows that a rich and good breakfast could help you lose weight more than large portions in the evening. The team would like to conduct another study to find out whether losing weight with breakfast is really possible. In any case, this would be great news for anyone struggling with obesity. The study is also byAdvantage for diabetics, who could now better adapt their nutrition plan based on the results.
The study from the Section for Psychoneurobiology was publishedOxford Academicpublished.
