Lessen Lunch Calories
Enjoying a hearty breakfast may help a person to eat fewer calories at lunch. Allan Geliebter, from Columbia University Medical Center (New York, USA), and colleagues enrolled 36 men and women (18 lean, 18 overweight) who consumed a breakfast of 350 calories of either: carbohydrates, a quick-cook oatmeal, or sugared corn flakes; or a control breakfast (water only). Subjects were assessed for feelings of hunger or fullness after the breakfast and until lunch (3 hours later). As well, the team took blood measurements of glucose, insulin, leptin, glucagon, and a marker of gastric emptying. Those subjects who consumed the oatmeal for breakfast reported higher ratings of fullness and lower ratings of hunger, and consumed 31% fewer calories at lunch. The overall satiety effect was even greater among the overweight subjects, who consumed 50% fewer calories at lunch after eating oatmeal for breakfast.