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Eat your breakfast, but don't over do. That's the message from a new study from UC Berkeley.
Doctor Gladys Block is director of the public health nutrition program.
Dr. Gladys Block, Ph.D./ UC Berkeley: "Twenty to twenty-five percent of the population skips breakfast. And the interesting thing about that is that they have significantly higher body weight than people who actually eat breakfast."
Skipping breakfast is a bad idea. It won't help you lose weight or keep your weight under control. Odds are you'll get hungry and grab a high-fat, high-sugar snack.
Dr. Block: "Mom got it right when she said eat your breakfast. You know, just like Mom got it right when she said eat your fruits and vegetables. I mean, Mom said that and most of us sort of poo-pooed that. But it turns out that there are hundreds of scientific studies that say that's exactly right."
And if you do eat breakfast, it seems to make a difference what you eat. The people who ate bacon and eggs were the heaviest, while those who had cereal were the leanest.
"Probably it's perfectly fine to eat eggs and bacon once in a while. Probably not fine to eat eggs and bacon every day. Probably better to eat a lower fat, higher fiber breakfast like breakfast cereal frequently."
Doctor Block says it highlights a growing problem... we're not taking good care of ourselves.
"We've somehow gotten so busy and so pulled in different directions that we don't eat breakfast or we don't eat a good breakfast, and we don't eat our good dinner with fruits and vegetables in it."
Another surprise... The researchers also found that between 5 and 10 percent of people only had a sweet for breakfast-- a candy bar or a Coke.
As for cereals, they lumped all the different varieties together. But since they were studying adults, it's assumed they were eating less of the sugar coated cereals.
And we should mention the study was partially funded by Kellogg's.
