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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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