Sunday, October 21, 2012

What happens when you skip breakfast ?

The brain is an often overlooked yet a significant organ in an array of dietary disorders. More and more research are highlighting how the brain's biological mechanisms may contribute to most of the health challenges we are dealing with today such as obesity, diabetes, binge eating...
One study in particular looked at the effect of skipping breakfast on brain activity using brain scans of normal weight people. The result showed that skipping breakfast makes fatty, high calorie foods appear far more attractive later in the day. In fact, when they compared the brain scans of the breakfast eating and the breakfast skipping visits, the researchers noticed different patterns of activity in the orbitofrontal cortex. This area is situated just above the eyes and influences judgements about pleasantness and reward value of food. On an empty stomach, this area appears to be more active when looking at pictures of high calorie foods.


To conclude, skipping breakfast will lead to an increased appeal to high calories foods and a subsequent increased food consumption at lunch. So for those trying to keep a healthy weight or to loose weight skipping breakfast is not a smart choice !

For reference click here


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