Breakfast can be important, but calling it the most important meal of the day turns a context-dependent question into a universal rule. Research does not establish one ranking that applies to every person and health outcome.
A six-week randomized trial involving 33 lean adults found that breakfast increased physical activity energy expenditure and improved afternoon and evening glucose stability, without changing resting metabolism or body weight relative to morning fasting. Separately, a systematic review of 13 adult trials did not establish breakfast as a weight-loss advantage; the evidence was short-term and mostly low quality.
A scientific review emphasizes that importance depends on the outcome being considered. Comparing breakfast with morning fasting also does not rank it against lunch or dinner. These findings neither make breakfast useless nor establish skipping it as universally better; they show why the slogan overstates what the research can conclude.
Breakfast can be beneficial without being the most important meal for everyone.
University of Bath
In a six-week randomized trial of 33 lean adults, breakfast increased physical activity energy expenditure and stabilized later glucose measurements, but did not change resting metabolism or body weight relative to fasting.
Based on: University of Bath research portal
Sievert and colleagues, BMJ
A systematic review of 13 randomized trials did not establish that adding breakfast improves adult weight loss. Short follow-up and generally low-quality evidence limit the conclusion, which does not rank meals by overall importance.
Based on: BMJ; abstract hosted by PubMed
Betts and colleagues, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
The review explains that breakfast's importance varies by person, context and outcome. Its authors explicitly state that the Bath trials were not designed to determine whether breakfast is the most important meal.
Based on: Cambridge University Press, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society
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