Does skipping breakfast help with weight loss?

Some people choose to skip breakfast because they think it will help them lose weight, where as some say that eating breakfast is important to help with weight loss.

For adults, there is only some evidence available about the relationship between eating breakfast and their weight status.  However in 2011, a review of two studies on men showed that eating breakfast could protect against weight gain.  Some of the reasons for this were that:

• Eating breakfast is linked with less people being overweight and obese, and that people who eat breakfast tend to have better nutrition and healthy lifestyle behaviours.
• Eating breakfast regularly was linked to having a better quality of nutritional intake, and people self reporting that they rated their health as being better.
• Men’s body mass index (BMI) was lower in those men who reported that they ate breakfast (a BMI of over 25 is considered overweight while a BMI over 30 is considered obese).
• Eating breakfast is more likely to give you better nutritional benefits, and should be promoted as part of an overall healthy lifestyle strategy that includes regular physical activity, having a healthy diet and using dietary restraint (not eating between meals)

Sources:
– Mesas AE, et al. Selected eating behaviours and excess body weight: a systematic review. Obes Rev 2011, 28 (10).
– Song WO, et al.  Is consumption of breakfast associated with body mass index in US adults? J Am Diet Assoc. 2005, 105 (9), 1373–1382.
– Kent LM, Worsley A. Breakfast size is related to body mass index for men, but not women. Nutritional Research. 2010, 30 (4), 240–245.