A new study suggests that if you want to lose weight, you should skip dinner rather than breakfast. The reason: the behavior of the metabolism.
In the morning like an emperor, at noon like a king and in the evening like a beggar: This old adage has held up for many years when it comes to the question of when and how much to eat in order to stay healthy and slim. However, it has not yet been finally proven whether this is really true. There are many nutritional studies that have sometimes come to different results. A new small study from Lübeck currently confirms the old saying: According to the study, it could actually be healthier for the body to have breakfast and skip dinner.
Big breakfast or big dinner?
Kerstin Oltmanns and her team instructed 16 subjects – all normal-weight men – to Eat a rich breakfast or dinner in the test laboratory. On the first day, 69 percent of the daily calories were eaten in the morning, 20 percent at lunchtime and 11 percent in the evening. On the second day, the principle was reversed: breakfast now consisted of 11 percent of the daily calories, lunch again 20 percent and dinner 69 percent of the calories.
The metabolism likes early meals
Before and after each meal, the researchers measured how much heat the test subjects emitted. Because this gives you information about how active the metabolism is and how high the energy consumption. In general, the metabolism works faster after meals, because the body begins to digest food by breaking down and absorbing nutrients. This stimulates the so-called food-induced thermogenesis (NIT).
The result of the test: After breakfast, the NIT was two and a half times as strong as after meals in the evening. The researchers conclude that we burn more calories after a morning meal than after an evening meal. In addition, the blood sugar level and the insulin rose less after a rich breakfast compared to the big dinner. And: According to their own statements, the participants felt greater cravings when the breakfast was small.
Kerstin Oltmanns writes in a message: "Our study shows that human energy consumption is generally higher in the morning than in the evening. This is genetic and is the same for everyone. Overweight people often omit breakfast because they want to lose weight and eat a large main meal in the evening when hunger becomes overwhelming. " Exactly but could be the wrong way to lose weight or stay slim.
Examination should be viewed with caution
However, the interpretation of the study results should be enjoyed with caution. On the one hand, only a few test subjects took part in the study, on the other hand, they were only men. But Oltmanns and her team are already planning the next step: In a follow-up examination, they would like to prove that losing weight in obese people is actually easier if the same amount of calories is mainly consumed in the first half of the day.