Research
Energy balance
In obese adults, neither daily breakfast nor extended morning fasting results in significant changes in body weight or body composition over 6 weeks.
If your goal is weight loss, simply eating or skipping breakfast (within the parameters of this study) will not make a difference in your body weight over 6 weeks. Both groups gained weight, suggesting that meal timing alone is not a sufficient weight loss strategy for obese adults.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Body mass increased across both groups over time but with no treatment effects on body composition or any change in resting metabolic rate (stable within 8 kcal/d).
Why this rating
RCT design, clear null result for weight change between groups.
Source
The causal role of breakfast in energy balance and health: a randomized controlled trial in obese adults
Enhad A. Chowdhury et al. · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2016
DOI 10.3945/ajcn.115.122044
rct · n=23Cited 256×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- In obese adults, consuming a daily breakfast (≥700 kcal before 11:00) increases morning physical activity thermogenesis compared to extended morning fasting, without causing compensatory increases in total daily energy intake.Good
- In obese adults, daily breakfast consumption improves insulin sensitivity (reduced insulinemic response to glucose) compared to extended morning fasting, despite no change in body weight.Good
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