Breakfast ISN'T the most important meal of the day: Skipping it or eating it 'won't make any difference to weight'

Breakfast ISN'T the most important meal of the day: Skipping it or eating it 'won't make any difference to weight'

It is a thought that may make you drop your hot-buttered toast and splutter into your coffee.

Claims that breakfast is the most important meal of the day have little scientific basis, a study suggests.

The NHS even champions the idea we should go to work on an egg, scoff porridge or as a weekend treat, tuck into a full English on its ‘Choices’ website.

But it seems it does not make much difference – and the idea that skipping breakfast makes you overeat later in the day isn't completely true, researchers say.

The idea the meal is inherently good for us may stem from marketing campaigns to sell us cornflakes, eggs and bacon, they argue.

The first meal of the day has been suggested to boost your metabolism, make you less likely to put on weight and give you more energy.

Dr James Betts, a senior lecturer in nutrition at the University of Bath, said that these benefits do not stand up to scrutiny.

‘The problem is that these benefits although logical sounding, are largely assumptions based on observational studies and had never actually been tested.

‘I was amazed when I started looking for evidence – I thought there would be a lot,’ he told New Scientist magazine.