Original article from ScienceDaily (May 19, 2011)
A University of Missouri researcher has found that eating a healthy breakfast, especially one high in protein, increases satiety and reduces hunger throughout the day. In addition, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers found that eating a protein-rich breakfast reduces the brain signals controlling food motivation and reward-driven eating behavior.
“Everyone knows that eating breakfast is important, but many people still don’t make it a priority,” said Heather Leidy, assistant professor in the MU Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. “This research provides additional evidence that breakfast is a valuable strategy to control appetite and regulate food intake.”
In the study, Leidy assessed physiological hunger and satiety by measuring perceived appetite sensations and hormonal markers in combination with psychological reward-driven motivation to eat, using fMRI to identify brain activation in specific regions related to food motivation and reward.
The researchers decided to target ‘breakfast-skipping’ teens for two reasons, Leidy said. First, breakfast skipping has been strongly associated with unhealthy snacking, overeating (especially at night), weight gain and obesity. Second, approximately 60 percent of adolescents skip breakfast on a daily basis.
For three weeks, the teens either continued to skip breakfast or consumed 500-calorie breakfast meals containing cereal and milk (which contained normal quantities of protein) or higher protein meals prepared as Belgium waffles, syrup and yogurt. At the end of each week, the volunteers completed appetite and satiety questionnaires. Right before lunch, the volunteers completed a brain scan, using fMRI, to identify brain activation responses.
Compared to breakfast skipping, both breakfast meals led to increased fullness and reductions in hunger throughout morning. fMRI results showed that brain activation in regions controlling food motivation and reward was reduced prior to lunch time when breakfast was consumed in the morning. Additionally, the higher protein breakfast led to even greater changes in appetite, satiety and reward-driven eating behavior compared to the normal protein breakfast.
“Incorporating a healthy breakfast containing protein-rich foods can be a simple strategy for people to stay satisfied longer, and therefore, be less prone to snacking,” Leidy said. “People reach for convenient snack foods to satisfy their hunger between meals, but these foods are almost always high in sugar and fat and add a substantial amount of calories to the diet. These findings suggest that a protein-rich breakfast might be an effective strategy to improve appetite control and prevent overeating in young people.”
The article has recently been published online in Obesity. Funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health.
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Today’s Workout
Buy-in: Snatch technique –
- practice 2 rounds of the following then 3 rounds with light weight:
- 2 snatch grip deadlifts, 2 snatch pulls from the floor, 2 power snatches
- on the snatch pulls, move smoothly from the floor to the pockets then extend the hips rapidly while bending the arms into the “scarecrow” position (this is essentially like doing a power snatch without flicking the bar overhead to finish)
WOD: Running Back on Time
This is an interval workout with a 2 min mandatory rest after each round – each person will have to keep track of when they finished each round and begin the next one 2 minutes later.
4 rounds for individual time of:
- 400m run
- 15 back squats (85/125)
- 10 pushups
- no rack for squats
- pushups with hand release on floor
- slowest interval is your time
Zone 3 – scale bar weight to 65/95
Zone 2 – scale bar weight to 45/65, pushups from knees
Zone 1 – scale as needed
Cash-Out: 60sec max situps
