Usual breakfast eating habits affect response to breakfast skipping in overweight women

Abstract

Objective: This randomized, cross-over trial was designed to investigate the metabolic and appetitive responses to skipping breakfast in overweight women who were habitual breakfast Eaters or Skippers.

Methods: Nine Eaters and nine Skippers were studied on two separate days during which subjects ate breakfast (B) or had no breakfast (NB), followed by a standard lunch meal 4 h later. Blood sampling for hormones and metabolites was performed after lunch, and appetite was rated throughout the day.

Results: Interactions between day and habitual breakfast pattern were seen for area under the curve (AUC) for insulin and free fatty acids (FFA). Both insulin (P = 0.020) and FFA (P = 0.023) AUC were higher on the NB day for Eaters but similar on both days for Skippers. Eaters had higher pre lunch hunger AUC on the NB day (P = 0.015) as well as lower pre lunch satiety AUC under both conditions (P = 0.019).

Conclusions: Overall, this study showed that the adverse effects of skipping breakfast (higher insulin and FFA responses to lunch, increased hunger, and decreased satiety) were found primarily in habitual breakfast eaters. This suggests that meal skipping may have enhanced effects in habitual Eaters due to entrainment of metabolic and appetitive regulatory systems.

Figure 1

Overview of study day. Study procedures are shown by time (minutes). IC – Indirect calorimetry; VAS – Visual Analog Scales for appetite ratings; Labs – glucose, insulin, free fatty acids, triglycerides, leptin, GLP-1, PYY, ghrelin.

Figure 2

Metabolic response to breakfast skipping in habitual breakfast eaters and skippers. Glucose (A), insulin (C), free fatty acids (E) and triglycerides (G) are shown at 0 minutes, 240 minutes (prior to lunch meal) and every 30 minutes for 180 minutes following the lunch meal on the Breakfast and No Breakfast days in all subjects combined. Values are means ± SEM, n=18. Also shown are differences between the response in breakfast Eaters vs. Skippers for glucose (B), insulin (D), free fatty acids (F) and triglycerides (H). Values are means ± SEM, n=18 (9 Skippers; 9 Eaters).

Figure 3

Appetitive response to breakfast skipping in habitual breakfast eaters and skippers. Eaters. Hunger (A) and satiety (C) at 0 minutes and every hour prior to the lunch meal, every 30 minutes for 180 minutes following lunch, and hourly until end of study day are shown on the breakfast and no breakfast day for all subjects. Values are means ± SEM, n=18. Hunger (B) and satiety (D) in breakfast Eaters vs. Skippers at 0 minutes and every hour prior to the lunch meal, every 30 minutes for 180 minutes following lunch, and hourly until end of study day are shown on the breakfast and no breakfast day. Values are means ± SEM, n=18 (9 Skippers, 9 Eaters).