Eating breakfast reduces cravings, overeating

Date: Oct-16-2014 A small study finds when late-teen girls eat breakfast, it raises levels

of a chemical in the brain's reward center that may help them stop craving sweet

foods and overeating during the rest of the day.

"It used to be that nearly 100% of American adults, kids and teens were

eating breakfast," Prof. Leidy says, "but over the last 50 years, we have seen a decrease

in eating frequency and an increase in obesity."

Writing in the Nutrition Journal, a team from the University of

Missouri in Columbia, notes that since over a third of American teenagers are

overweight or obese and most of them will remain so in adulthood, focusing on

young adults is an important way to prevent the perpetuation of the obesity

epidemic.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report many teenagers don't eat

breakfast and this likely increases the chance they will overeat and put on weight, they add.

Heather Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology, and

colleagues, explain that the number of US teens struggling with obesity - which

raises the risk they will have life-long health problems - has quadrupled in the

last 30 years.

In their study of a small group of young women, they found eating breakfast

increases levels of the brain's reward chemical dopamine which is involved in

controlling impulses. As these levels increase, they appear to reduce food

cravings and overeating.

They suggest understanding how dopamine changes in the brain affect food

cravings could helps us develop better ways to prevent and treat obesity.

Prof. Leidy says they found, "people experience a dramatic decline in cravings

for sweet foods when they eat breakfast."

"However," she adds, "breakfasts that are high in protein also reduced cravings

for savory - or high-fat - foods. On the other hand, if breakfast is skipped,

these cravings continue to rise throughout the day."

For their randomized, crossover study, the team recruited 20 overweight girls

aged between 18 and 20 who normally skipped breakfast. Each participant underwent

three types of 7-day eating patterns.

In one pattern, the participants ate a 350-calorie breakfast with normal

amounts of protein, in another pattern they ate a 350-calorie breakfast with high

protein, and in the third pattern, they skipped breakfast. After completing a 7-

day pattern, they then had a 7-day "washing out period" before embarking on the

next 7-day pattern.

In each of the 7-day patterns, on the morning of the seventh day, the girls

underwent assessments, which included filling in food craving questionnaires.

Fluctuation in dopamine was also assessed by checking dopamine metabolite

homovanillic acid levels in regular blood samples taken through the

morning.

Eating breakfast followed by reduced cravings

The results showed both breakfast meals were followed by reduced cravings for

sweet and savory foods and higher levels of dopamine metabolite.

Also, compared to a normal-protein breakfast, the high-protein breakfast tended

to be followed by greater reductions in cravings for savory food and sustained

levels in dopamine metabolite up until lunch.

Prof. Leidy explains that when we eat, our brain releases dopamine, which

stimulates feelings of reward. This response is an important part of eating

because it helps to regulate food intake. However:

"Dopamine levels are blunted in individuals who are overweight or obese, which

means that it takes much more stimulation - or food - to elicit feelings of

reward; we saw similar responses within breakfast-skippers.

To counteract the tendencies to overeat and to prevent weight gain that occurs

as a result of overeating, we tried to identify dietary behaviors that provide

these feelings of reward while reducing cravings for high-fat foods. Eating

breakfast, particularly a breakfast high in protein, seems to do that."

Although the study only included young women, the team believes the findings

also apply to all adults.

More and more Americans skipping breakfast

More and more Americans are skipping breakfast, Prof. Leidy continues, and this

is linked to food cravings, overeating and obesity:

"It used to be that nearly 100% of American adults, kids and teens were

eating breakfast," she adds, "but over the last 50 years, we have seen a decrease

in eating frequency and an increase in obesity."

In January 2014, Medical News Today also learned how metabolic syndrome and poor breakfast habits in

childhood may be linked. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors that

are associated with heart disease, diabetes and stroke.

Researchers in Sweden found metabolic syndrome in adults was related to the

type of breakfast those same adults had eaten as children.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Not to be reproduced without permission.

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Courtesy: Medical News Today Note: Any medical information available in this news section is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional.