Eating Breakfast Can Help With Cravings

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We have all heard the saying that, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Just how true is that saying? According to a recent study breakfast especially high in protein can help to control cravings of high fat foods throughout the day. This would reduce the amount of high fat foods we consume daily. Teenagers are the most likely to skip breakfast thinking they are reducing the calories they are consuming when in reality they are increasing their chances of overeating, leading to eventual weight gain. Statistics have shown that teens struggling with obesity have quadrupled in the last thirty years. MU researchers have found that by eating breakfast especially rich in protein increases the brian chemical associated with feelings of reward, which may lead to reduced food cravings and less overeating throughout the day. Understanding how the brain chemicals work with food cravings could provide a lot of information about preventing overeating and improving obesity prevention and treatment.


The research has shown that people who eat breakfast have reduced cravings especially for high fat foods. Whereas those who do skip breakfast those cravings are increased and continue throughout the day. Dopamine is the brain chemical that was followed in the study. Dopamine is the chemical involved in regulating cravings towards food. Dopamine levels were measured by homovanillic acid (HVA), which is the dopamine metabolite. Eating releases dopamine, which stimulates the feelings of food reward.

In individuals who are overweight or obese it requires a larger amount of food to release enough dopamine to feel reward towards food. In this study it was shown that those that skipped breakfast had the same results regarding a greater level of food to release dopamine. This shows that those who skipped breakfast had to eat more food throughout the day to feel the reward of eating. The study found that by eating breakfast especially high in protein counteracts those tendencies. Years ago everyone used to eat breakfast and obesity rates were a lot lower. Now the number of people who eat breakfast is very low and obesity rates have increased dramatically. I think this is growing research and will help with the treatment of the obesity epidemic.

University of Missouri-Columbia. "Eating breakfast increases brain chemical involved in regulating food intake, cravings." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141015143247.htm>.

 - KO

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