A randomized controlled trial to study the effects of breakfast on energy intake, physical activity, and body fat in women who are nonhabitual breakfast eaters.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of eating breakfast on energy intake, physical activity, body weight, and body fat in women who are nonhabitual breakfast eaters over a four-week period.

METHODS

Forty-nine women who were nonhabitual breakfast-eaters were randomized to one of two conditions: breakfast or no breakfast. Breakfast eaters were required to eat at least 15% of their daily energy requirement before 8:30 a.m. Non-breakfast eaters did not consume any energy until after 11:30 a.m. Weight and body fat were assessed at baseline and after four weeks of intervention. Body fat was measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Participants completed seven 24-hour recalls to assess dietary intake during the intervention. Physical activity was measured by accelerometry for 32 consecutive days.

RESULTS

On average, the participants randomized to eat breakfast consumed 266 ± 496 (F = 12.81; P < 0.01) more calories per day over the course of the study and weighed 0.7 ± 0.8 kg (F = 7.81; p < 0.01) more at the end of the intervention. There was no observed caloric compensation at subsequent meals and no change in self-reported hunger or satiety. There was also no physical activity compensation with the addition of breakfast.

CONCLUSION

The findings of our study showed that requiring non-breakfast eaters to eat breakfast resulted in higher caloric intake and weight gain. Future research should evaluate this relationship for a longer period of time to see if adding breakfast to the diet of women who generally do not eat breakfast results in adaptive behavior change over time.