Dr's Casebook: Eating a good breakfast is good for your health

I am fond of old adages and pieces of folk wisdom that guided people in the past. For example, ‘have breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and supper like a pauper.’ There is much sense in that. When you think about it, society gears the way in which we eat. People get up, down a swift breakfast, have a quick lunch and the main meal at the end of the day

Simple logic, however, tells you that this is not the sensible way round. If you save the main calorie intake until the end of the day, after you have done all your work, then you have a good chance of simply laying down fat.

Missing breakfast is not a good idea, because you are not allowing the body to operate properly. Indeed, research from Boston in the USA supports the concept that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It has been found that the rate of obesity, high blood pressure and insulin resistance was 35 – 50 per cent lower in those who had breakfast compared to those who miss it. In addition, those who miss breakfast seem more likely to have problems with their cholesterol.

Breakfast stimulates your natural insulin production by the pancreas and primes the body’s metabolism to control blood sugar levels.

Another study from the University of Nottingham divided a number of young women into two groups over two weeks. They had the same daily calorific intake through the day, but one group missed breakfast while the other had a good breakfast.

At the end of the two week period the women’s metabolic responses were checked. In the breakfast skippers, the cholesterol levels were higher and they had poorer insulin sensitivity, than were shown by the breakfast eaters.

I think the evidence is that breakfast is really important and you should try to challenge the pancreas first thing every day. That way you may reduce your risk of diabetes, heart disease and blood pressure.