"Eating a Big Breakfast and a Light Dinner Doesn’t Help You Lose Weight"

Scotland — Researchers from the University of Aberdeen have found that eating a large breakfast and a small or skipped dinner is not an effective way to lose weight.

The study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, involved 16 male and 14 female volunteers with an average age of 50 and an average BMI of 32.5. The findings showed that overweight participants burned the same amount of calories regardless of when they consumed their largest meal of the day.

This challenges the long-standing proverb about weight loss: “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.” Many have believed that consuming most of one’s calories early in the day allows more time to burn them off.

To test this theory, the Aberdeen researchers asked 30 overweight or obese participants to follow two different diet plans, each lasting one month.

• The first group consumed most of their calories at breakfast (45% of total daily intake).

• The second group consumed most of their calories at dinner (20% of total daily intake).

In both groups, participants burned about 2,800 calories per day, and their average weight loss was 3 kilograms, showing no significant difference between the two eating schedules.

To measure calorie expenditure, researchers gave participants “heavy water” (deuterium oxide) and later analyzed the balance of hydrogen and oxygen in their urine. This allowed them to calculate how much carbon dioxide was expelled — a direct indicator of calories burned.

However, those who ate a larger breakfast reported feeling less hungry throughout the day. This suggests that a hearty breakfast can still be a useful strategy for appetite control. Participants in this group also had lower levels of ghrelin, the “hunger hormone.”

“There isn’t an ideal meal time when it comes to calorie burning,” said Professor Johnstone, a member of the research team. “But a substantial breakfast can help manage appetite and make it easier to stick to a diet when trying to lose weight.”