Having Breakfast is it Important to Our Health?

Do you know that having a healthy breakfast every morning set you on a good note for the day; various studies done also showed us that it reduces the chance of becoming obese while maintaining healthy weight.

Having a regular healthy breakfast has been associated with a lots of benefits, hence doctors and researchers declared it as” the most important meal of the day”.

Benefits of Breakfast

Having healthy breakfast increases concentration, performance and attention

Most of us have a good reason for skipping breakfast because of our busy schedule, but we are missing a lot from doing so. Studies done in the UK and in America shows that breakfast has a lot to do with our performance during the day, it helps to boost our brain performance by maintaining an adequate level of sugar in the bloodstream the source of most of our energy. Skipping breakfast is associated with low level of visual perception, spatial memory, verbal fluency and concentration. “Eating healthy breakfast such as whole-grain cereal is linked with improved cognitive performance in the morning say Dr Campbell”.

Weight Loss: Healthy breakfast increases weight loss and reduce weight gain.

Most of us always believe that skipping breakfast will help us to lose weight but this is totally a wrong mind-set, I remember when I noticed I have added some extra weight I decided to be skipping breakfast so as to lose weight and eat at lunch time but I discovered that the amount of food I was consuming was far more than what I would have eaten normally because I was hungry. I would reach out to the next available chocolate bar or high-sugar refined carb for a quick sugar rush, and I noticed at the end of the day that I was even adding more weight rather losing weight. Studies have shown that insulin (hormone that makes our body to absorb glucose from the blood) level rises during our next meal when we skip breakfast, because we are hungry so we compensate ourselves with an extra meal/chocolate bar because of the meal we missed in the morning, this later get stored up in the body as fats because it takes time before our body can get them broken down and be absorbed into the system, while this process is going on we would have reached for the next meal.

Increase vitamin, mineral and fibre: Most of the cereal manufacturers now fortify them with added vitamins and mineral, when we have a healthy breakfast such whole-grain cereals with low-fat dairy we tend to get eat what we may not have time to eat during the day.

Healthy breakfast linked with reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease

Study conducted at the Harvard University demonstrated that men who skip breakfast and eat late at night are at higher risk of developing heart disease symptoms these may spark changes in their metabolic system which could lead to heart disease. Dr Leah Cahill said: “When you are fasting, your body changes into a protective drive, increasing your blood pressure, increasing your insulin level and cholesterol.  When you skip breakfast you are adding extra strain to your body combine with the fasting you have been doing all night, which if not controlled or regulated could over the years  lead to insulin resistance – which leads to diabetes – or high cholesterol or high blood pressure, which can all lead to heart disease.

Having healthy breakfast has also been associated with good moods. Have ever noticed when you are hungry how your moods changes, you become grouchy and tired. There is a link between healthy breakfast such as carbohydrates found in whole-grain, and enriched cereal and mood. The connection between carbohydrates and mood is all about tryptophan, a non-essential amino acid. As more tryptophan enters the brain, more serotonin is synthesized in the brain, and mood tends to improve. Serotonin, known as a mood regulator, is made naturally in the brain from tryptophan with some help from the B vitamins. Foods thought to increase serotonin levels in the brain include fish and vitamin D.

While tryptophan is found in almost all protein-rich foods, other amino acids are better at passing from the bloodstream into the brain. So you can actually boost your tryptophan levels by eating more carbohydrates; they seem to help eliminate the competition for tryptophan, so more of it can enter the brain. But it's important to make smart carbohydrate choices like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes, which also contribute important nutrients and fiber.

Public Health Nutrition 4 (6A) 1429 - 1431

The Telegraph

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