Is breakfast Really the Most Important Meal of the Day?

Vegan breakfast recipes, The Independent, https://static.the-independent.com/2023/01/06/14/iStock-1256255135.jpg Accessed 13 Mar. 2025.

Breakfast is often cited as the most important meal of the day, but why is that? Many people have simply heard this, but didn't think much of it. Perhaps their mother told them not to skip breakfast as a child, and as a seeming truism, didn't question it. Despite this, many people often skip breakfast. This could be due to a variety of reasons, the most obvious being that they merely tend to lack hunger early in the morning, and as such see no need to eat. Some folks find consuming breakfast unpleasant or sickening, and so they skip breakfast and in the process, skip all unpleasant side effects. But is this healthy? Does skipping breakfast have any negative health effects, does it help you lose weight faster, or are both sides completely wrong?

Let us first focus on the argument that eating breakfast is important for your health, and should not be skipped. Since around 60% of 11-13 year olds and only about 55% of 15 year olds eat breakfast each school day, it is important to know if there are any health risks from waiting those extra few hours before breaking the fast of night. According to a scientific opinion published by the American Heart Association, 74% of breakfast skippers failed to meet two thirds of the dietary reccomendations for vitamins and minerals, as opposed to the 41% of breakfast eaters who did not meet the same dietary reccomendations (St-Onge et al.). The opinion also cited data showing that of American breakfast skippers aged 20-40 tended to have overall worse daily diets in terms of nutrient intake.

The opinion concluded that breakfast consumption may be "helpful in promoting healthy dietary habits throughout the day". Many dietary scientists theorize that this disparity in dietary quality is due to less healthy choices made during the rest of the day as a result of not having that energy boost at the beginning of the day (i.e. the lack of breakfast tends to cause overeating during the later meals). Earler studies had even shown an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and general health and suceptability to maladies when skipping breakfast, but these have largely been rejected due to many confounding variables like pre-study health, physical activity, smoking, etc. As such, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that skipping breakfast has negative effects on cardiovasuclar and other health risks, but does seem to result in a healthier diet on average.

In favor of the breakfast skippers are multiple arguments, the first of which being, if breakfast causes discomfort or nausea, skipping it is better. Obviously if it is causing you physical harm, the benefits of not eating breakfast outweight the potential downsides of skipping. Another commonly cited reason for skipping breakfast is weight loss. As you have just come off of a long fast while sleeping, people tend to think that your body will start burning fat if you don't give it a different source of energy in the form of breakfast. Althought this seems logical in theory, in practice the effect is negligable. A 2019 study on the effects of breakfast on weight and energy intake showed that the difference in weight of breakfast eaters and breakfast skppers was marginal. The mean difference between eaters and skippers was -0.44kg (or 0.968lbs in bald eagle units) (Sievert, Katherine et al.). The trial was conducted with minor risk of bias and relatively low sample size, so the results must be taken with a grain of salt. Despite this, no drastic differences were measured, so even if taken at the greatest differnece in the certainty window (0.82kg or 1.8lbs), the difference is still insignificant and far less than effective than other methods of weight loss.

In response to the argument that breakfast eaters tend to have a higher overall quality of diet compared to skippers, it is important that it be noted that this is not intrinsic to the nutritional surplus or defecit of breakfast, but rather to common psychological patterns that commonly go along with breakfast skipping. Thus, if one takes care to make sure that their total nutrient intake is balanced and healthy despite skipping breakfast, no adverse health effects are likely as the result of missing breakfast. Breakfast consumption is also generally shown to be lacking in fiber and protien though (Bellisle et al.).

In conclusion, there seem to be no adverse side effects, as well as no benefits to skipping breakfast. So, if you are someone who regularly skips breakfast, as long as you make sure that your total food consumption is of a healthy amount and composition, you can rest assured that breakfast is not strictly necessary and you will be just fine without it. If you are someone who regularly partakes in breakfast, as long as you make sure it has sufficient fiber, protien, and nutrients, you will also be well set for the day.

Works Cited

Bellisle, France, et al. “Breakfast Consumption in French Children, Adolescents, and Adults: A Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Survey Examined in the Context of the International Breakfast Research Initiative.” Nutrients, vol. 10, no. 8, 9 Aug. 2018, p. 1056, doi:10.3390/nu10081056.

Sievert, Katherine, et al. “Effect of Breakfast on Weight and Energy Intake: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials.” BMJ Jan. 2019, p. l42, doi:10.1136/bmj.l42.

St-Onge, Marie-Pierre, et al. “Meal Timing and Frequency: Implications for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: A Scientific Statement from the American Heart Association.” Circulation, vol. 135, no. 9, 28 Feb. 2017, doi:10.1161/cir.0000000000000476.