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Breakfast-skipping as an Intermittent Fasting Protocol: Health Benefits

Authors:
  • Independent researcher. Collabotator with Neuroprotection group Institut of Systems Neurosciences Marseille France

Abstract and Figures

Avoiding late eating is considered a healthy behavior while skipping breakfast is commonly disapproved. Meanwhile, they have a common metabolic underlying resulting from the overnight fast prolongation and both improve health outcomes decreasing risks of diseases. Current recommendation regarding skipping breakfast are now seen as the most peremptory yet metabolically groundless health guideline. Habitual breakfast skipping renders the same health benefits as well-documented effects of calorie restriction, intermittent fasting and time-restricted feeding/eating. Basing on the emerging knowledge, it is reasonable to propose breakfast skipping as an easy to comply with, healthy lifestyle protocol having a great potential as an anti-aging intervention.
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Breakfast-skipping as an Intermittent Fasting
Protocol: Health Benefits
T. Zilberter
Infotonic conseil, Marseille, France
The Most Important Meal of the Day?
The widely accepted notion of breakfast (BF) as the most important meal of the day has been
called into question. Current recommendation regarding BF is now seen as perhaps the most
peremptory yet metabolically groundless health guidelines (Betts et al., 2016). Brown et al.
(2013) argued that the link between obesity and BF skipping does not automatically mean causal
relationships. It is routinely stated that skipping BF is overcompensated with increased energy
consumption later during the day, which is not been confirmed in direct controlled trials:
skipping BF caused no overcompensation of calorie intake later in the day (Gonzalez et al.,
2014). On the other hand, even a single overnight fast reduces concentrations of insulin and
glucose, known biomarkers of chronic disease (Kobayashi et al., 2014).
A Better Overall and Metabolic Health
Skipping BF or Late Meals Decreases the Risks of Diseases
In a 4-year long study based on Japanese insurance statistics, the accumulation of newly
diagnosed diseases was plotted against various lifestyle-related behaviors (Okamoto et al., 2013).
Self-reported BF-skippers had a lower incidence of all diseases (including metabolic diseases) as
compared to BF-eaters (Fig. A and B). In the same study, a link between late eating and poorer
health was demonstrated (Fig. C). Skipping BF may provide the neuroprotective and cognitively
beneficial effects similar to that of TRF (Zilberter & Zilberter, 2014) and thus promote the
healthy cognitive aging. Our detailed analysis of BF eating versus BF skipping effects revealed
that only the only group benefiting from any BF is malnourished children and children with low
IQs. Children having high IQ showed better cognitive test results after skipped BF. The most
important finding are: 1) habitual BF-skipping adult perform better without BF and 2) habitual
BF eater perform better after BF of pure fat, which means that their overnight ketosis state is not
interrupted.
Skipping Breakfast Decreases Daily Energy Intake
Calorie restriction has been shown to have profound anti-aging benefits. It should be mentioned
that in humans, during long-term as well as short-term protocols, both total fasting and caloric
restriction are hard to comply with due to persistent hunger (Stote et al., 2007). This difficulty is
considered purely psychological in nature. In a within-subject experiment where two meals
similar in taste and texture were administered, one containing calories and the other not
(Lieberman et al., 2008) , the authors concluded: “Cognitive performance, activity, sleep, and
mood are not adversely affected in healthy humans by 2 days of calorie deprivation when the
subjects and investigators are unaware of the calorie content of the treatments
”. Daily energy
and fat intakes were reduced with BF omission. Moreover, skipping BF resulted in a net energy
deficit of about 290 kcal a day (Levitsky & Pacanowski, 2013).
Intermittent Fasting
Prolonging the overnight fast habitually happens on a daily basis during the time-restricted
feeding regimen (TRF). In animal studies, TRF protocols restrict food availability to 4–8 hours
every circadian cycle (e.g. during dark phase in rodents). Animal studies have shown that
metabolic consequences of TRF are metabolically favorable independently of caloric intakes.
Even a short-term TRF intervention in adult rats slowed down age-associated cognitive decline
and improved cognitive functions (Singh et al., 2012). The effects on glucose tolerance and
insulin sensitivity were more pronounced compared to caloric restriction. In humans, TRF is
achieved by consistently reducing daily meal count. Similarly, TRF has been shown to be as
metabolically favorable in humans showing long-term neuroprotective effects, e.g., in the
prevention of neurodegenerative diseases (Jadiya et al., 2011; Srivastava & Haigis, 2011),
supposedly via improving synaptic plasticity and cognitive function (Fontán-Lozano et al., 2008;
Liu et al., 2013).
TRF is a one of the forms of Intermittent fasting, the one with superior adherence. A recent
Japanese long-term study of a very large cohort extracted from 4-year long insurance records
showed that BF skippers had a lower incidence of metabolic diseases, which constitute risk
factors for diseases of aging. A recent Japanese long-term study of a very large cohort extracted
from 4-year long insurance records showed that BF skippers had a lower incidence of metabolic
diseases, which constitute risk factors for diseases of aging. Reducing these risk factors can
provide protection against early onset of aging and prolong healthy, active and happy aging
(Okamoto et al., 2013)
Intermittent Ketosis
Sleeping energy expenditure was higher when BF was habitually skipped indicating a
prolongation of overnight ketosis (Kobayashi et al., 2014). Indeed, the best cognitive
performance was observed after a BF of pure fat (Fischer et al., 2001), which may metabolically
mimic the effects of skipping BF altogether by the same token as the ketogenic diet mimics the
effects of starvation. Long-term effects of ketosis are known to be strongly neuroprotective and
cognitively beneficial, for instance in children and in studies of Alzheimer's disease (Zilberter &
Zilberter, 2013)
Effects of ketosis
KR, ketogenic ratio; A/H, appetite/hunger; EI, energy intake; EE, energy expenditure (
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Article
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Aging is associated with the decline of cognitive properties. This situation is magnified when neurodegenerative processes associated with aging appear in human patients. Neuronal synaptic plasticity events underlie cognitive properties in the central nervous system. Caloric restriction (CR; either a decrease in food intake or an intermittent fasting diet) can extend life span and increase disease resistance. Recent studies have shown that CR can have profound effects on brain function and vulnerability to injury and disease. Moreover, CR can stimulate the production of new neurons from stem cells (neurogenesis) and can enhance synaptic plasticity, which modulate pain sensation, enhance cognitive function, and may increase the ability of the brain to resist aging. The beneficial effects of CR appear to be the result of a cellular stress response stimulating the production of proteins that enhance neuronal plasticity and resistance to oxidative and metabolic insults; they include neurotrophic factors, neurotransmitter receptors, protein chaperones, and mitochondrial biosynthesis regulators. In this review, we will present and discuss the effect of CR in synaptic processes underlying analgesia and cognitive improvement in healthy, sick, and aging animals. We will also discuss the possible role of mitochondrial biogenesis induced by CR in regulation of neuronal synaptic plasticity.
Article
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Lifelong dietary restriction (DR) is known to have many potential beneficial effects on brain function as well as delaying the onset of neurological diseases. In the present investigation, the effect of late-onset short-term intermittent fasting dietary restriction (IF-DR) regimen was studied on motor coordination and cognitive ability of ageing male rats. These animals were further used to estimate protein carbonyl content and mitochondrial complex I-IV activity in different regions of brain and peripheral organs, and the degree of age-related impairment and reversion by late-onset short-term IF-DR was compared with their levels in 3-month-old young rats. The results of improvement in motor coordination by rotarod test and cognitive skills by Morris water maze in IF-DR rats were found to be positively correlated with the decline in the oxidative molecular damage to proteins and enhanced mitochondrial complex IV activity in different regions of ageing brain as well as peripheral organs. The work was further extended to study the expression of synaptic plasticity-related proteins, such as synaptophysin, calcineurin and CaM kinase II to explore the molecular basis of IF-DR regimen to improve cognitive function. These results suggest that even late-onset short-term IF-DR regimen have the potential to retard age-associated detrimental effects, such as cognitive and motor performance as well as oxidative molecular damage to proteins.
Article
Epidemiological studies suggest an association between breakfast skipping and body weight gain, insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Time when meal is consumed affects postprandial increase in energy expenditure and blood glucose, and breakfast skipping may reduce 24 h energy expenditure and elevate blood glucose level. The present study evaluated the effect of breakfast skipping on diurnal variation of energy metabolism and blood glucose. The skipped breakfast was compensated by following big meals at lunch and supper. In a randomized repeated-measure design with or without breakfast, eight males stayed twice in a room-size respiratory chamber. Blood glucose was recorded with a continuous glucose monitoring system. Breakfast skipping did not affect 24 h energy expenditure, fat oxidation and thermic effect of food, but increased overall 24 h average of blood glucose (83 ± 3 vs 89 ± 2 mg/dl, P < 0.05). Unlike 24 h glucose level, 24 h energy expenditure was robust when challenged by breakfast skipping. These observations suggest that changes in glucose homeostasis precede that of energy balance, in the potential sequence caused by breakfast skipping, if this dietary habit has any effect on energy balance.:
Article
Various intentional and unintentional factors influence beliefs beyond what scientific evidence justifies. Two such factors are research lacking probative value (RLPV) and biased research reporting (BRR). We investigated the prevalence of RLPV and BRR in research about the proposition that skipping breakfast causes weight gain, which is called the proposed effect of breakfast on obesity (PEBO) in this article. Studies related to the PEBO were synthesized by using a cumulative meta-analysis. Abstracts from these studies were also rated for the improper use of causal language and biased interpretations. In separate analyses, articles that cited an observational study about the PEBO were rated for the inappropriate use of causal language, and articles that cited a randomized controlled trial (RCT) about the PEBO were rated for misleadingly citing the RCT. The current body of scientific knowledge indicates that the PEBO is only presumed true. The observational literature on the PEBO has gratuitously established the association, but not the causal relation, between skipping breakfast and obesity (final cumulative meta-analysis P value <10(-42)), which is evidence of RLPV. Four examples of BRR are evident in the PEBO literature as follows: 1) biased interpretation of one's own results, 2) improper use of causal language in describing one's own results, 3) misleadingly citing others' results, and 4) improper use of causal language in citing others' work. The belief in the PEBO exceeds the strength of scientific evidence. The scientific record is distorted by RLPV and BRR. RLPV is a suboptimal use of collective scientific resources.
  • Betts
Betts et al. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2016) 1-11.
  • Kobayashi
Kobayashi et al. ​ Obes Res Clin Pract (2013) ​ 8​ (3):e249-e257. doi:10.1016/j.orcp.2013.01.001
  • Lieberman
Lieberman et al. (2008). Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 88, 667-676.
  • Stote
Stote et al. (2007). Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 85, 981-988.
  • Zilberter
Zilberter (2011) ​ Front. Neuroenerg. ​ 3​ :8.
  • Gonzalez
Gonzalez et al. Br J Nutr (2013) 110 :1-12