Researching Skipping Breakfast Ahmad Saqib

Ahmad Saqib

14 November 2023

Is skipping breakfast good for you?

It’s commonly claimed that breakfast is the most important meal of your day. Is

this a myth, or is this a fact?

As we indulge in the following short analysis of whether or not this regime of eat-

ing breakfast at the beginning of your day is in fact good for you, we shall began estab-

lishing the question, “quid est veritas (what is truth?).” Thus, in order to explore the

question “quid est veritas,” we need to explore the roots of this concept itself.

The common ponti cation deeply envisioned in the mind of the masses is that

breakfast is the most crucial meal in the day, and anything else opposing this would be

considered sacrilege. This perception has created pre-conceived notions a ecting a

vast majority of scienti c literature analysing the consequences of skipping breakfast

on one’s health. Although these studies have proven a positive correlation to exist

between detrimental health and skipping this meal, they have not been successful in

proving a causation. Correlation does not prove causation. Rather, these studies have

only been proving, as per a recent meta-analysis1, that the belief of the bene ts of

breakfast alone have exceeded the strength of scienti c evidence, notably due to

what is called as the “halo-e ect” inspiring Parochialism resulting in cognitive bias. This

e ect has simultaneously been associated with the “mere exposure e ect”; the procliv-

ity (disposition) to believe something they have been repeatedly exposed to.

1Brown, A. W., Bohan Brown, M. M., & Allison, D. B. (2013). Belief beyond the evidence: using the proposed e ect of breakfast on obesity to show 2 practices that distort
scienti c evidence. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 98(5), 1298–1308. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.113.064410
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In brief, the meta-analysis explores how exposure to positive breakfast phrases

throughout their lifetime leads to a belief in its bene ts. Biased or low-value research

strengthens this belief. Furthermore, individuals prefer to seek out information that con-

rms their point of view and reject information that contradicts it (con rmation bias) in

order to avoid or alleviate cognitive discomfort, resulting in the retention of a biassed

sample of information. In support of this, here is a graph illustrating the comparison

between the strength of conviction and existing evidence between the provided ex-

ample of the proposed e ect of breakfast on obesity:

But when was this regime o cially normalised?

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Researching Skipping Breakfast Ahmad Saqib

This regime was normalised in the early 20th century, subsequent to a paper

published by “Good Health”, which is the oldest health magazine in the world (estab-

lished 1866). They had their contemporary, John Harvey, as their authoritative editor. In

this paper contained the contents proclaiming the roots of the claim: “breakfast is the

most important meal of your day.” Inside the magazine it mentioned, “breakfast is the

most important meal of the day… and it shouldn’t be eaten hurriedly, and all the family

should partake of it together.” It was this profound statement which began this new re-

volution of establishing breakfast at the beginning of your day.

Whether or not this statement alone is true all comes down to John Harvey. And

this is where we establish abiding by the Socratic Method (by Socrates), which is a

method to achieve the real foundation of the beliefs regarding any subject. Thus, we

should begin by asking ourselves the following questions:

- Who is John Harvey? And;

- What motives was he driven by?
 Researching Skipping Breakfast Ahmad Saqib

John Harvey Kellogg was the inventor of the multinational food manufacturing

company, most recognised for their cereals, Kelloggs. As far as his business mind led

him, he was in a pursuit of colossal wealth. He didn’t care about our health, he only

cared about his money. This theme among business men are common until this day.

Some examples include the producers of processed foods, or junk food (such as

chocolate cake or donuts), who are completely aware of the plethora of negative health

e ects these foods may impact someone with. However, in their perspective, their own

pro t maximisation signi cantly overweighs the negative consequences it has on other

people, therefore simply blinking an eye towards anything which risks a loss of cash.

But what if breakfast was considered the most important meal because they

considered it important for the family to be together in the morning, with the motive of

strengthening mental health and relationships? As much as we all want that to be true,

there is no potential for that being the case.

Therefore, the motive behind establishing such a statement would plausibly be

the result of his business mind tempting him to make the next move of increasing his

nancial kingdom. A disguised tactic luring people into buying his products.

The Scienti c Perspective

Truth often battles a labyrinth of myths, weaving through the corridors of nance

and delving into the rich landscapes of scienti c inquiry.

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 Researching Skipping Breakfast Ahmad Saqib

There have been many objections put forth against the claim that delaying your

overnight fast2 is indeed associated with many health bene ts. Today we will be analys-

ing some of these claims, to determine whether or not they are erroneous notions cul-

tivating internecine misconceptions.

The rst objection put forth is that we’ll run out of glucose as our body runs on

carbs. However, if we explore the bottom of the ocean, we’ll nd that:

- If we ingest more carbs, the body will use more carbs;

- If we ingest less carbs, the body will use less carbs and instead generate it’s
energy from 80-95% fat, which is a more e ective storage system because it takes

less space and less weight. There are also more calories per gram. You would also

achieve a more stable energy because you are not dependent on topping o your

blood sugar every couple of hours (assuming one doesn’t bulge eat, misconstruing

the entire purpose of intermittent fasting), and your energy will increase as a result of

this more e cient sustainability;

- It would result in glycogen, a multi-branched polysaccharide of glucose that

serves as a form of energy store (the reserve of the carbs which you acquire), barely

being touched (see gure).

2The term "breakfast" is derived from Middle English brekefast, brekefaste, which is comparable to break + fast (literally, "to end the nightly fast") and is most likely a derivative
of Old English faestenbrye (literally, "fast-breach"). Similar to the Dutch breekvasten ("breakfast").
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Researching Skipping Breakfast Ahmad Saqib

This information also saves us from indulging in the occinaucinihilipili cation of

the counterfactual and inoperative ponti cation that we will run out of energy. This is

because,

- If we are a normal person (~150lbs), not very athletic, we would have ≈

130,000 calories (25% fat).

- If we were more athletic and a bigger person in general (~200lbs), we would

have ≈ 105,000 calories (15% fat).

- If we were obese (~285 lbs), we would have ≈ 500,000 calories (50% fat).

Therefore, it is highly improbable that we would run out of energy due to this (al-

most) unlimited supply of fat, and we can dismiss this statement altogether.

A further common objection is raised against our cognitive function, which in-

volves our multiple mental abilities, including:

• learning
• thinking
• reasoning
• remembering
• problem solving
• decision making
• attention

So is it true that we are going to be lethargic, unfocused and unproductive as a result of

intermittent fasting? Are we going to feel half-dead before lunch? Rather, the situation is
paradoxical to that! There have been many reports as per Dr. Sten Ekberg3 that people
tend to acquire more energy and better focus if they go by this strict schedule, excluding
those falling prey to the syndrome of trying something for too-short-a-time as the body
would need to adapt and transition, which they are not allowing. The science behind this
is simple, when we don’t get any breakfast, our body as mentioned transitions, and be-
gins mobilising a multitude more resources and much more effectively. In short, this res-
ults in you having more focus.

3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0AM3O6tz_Q&t=2s
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Another objection commonly raised is that we won’t be able to control our Cholesterol
levels if we skip breakfast. While this is true, there seems to be some misconceptions
which have arisen. When we do intermittent fasting:
- We mobilise our fat, and in our fat are triglycerides and largest storage of cholesterol
- Triglycerides are going to temporarily be used as a form of energy, while cholesterol
isn’t because you can’t burn out cholesterol
- Therefore, cholesterol is instead used to make hormones, e.g. testosterone, oestro-
gen, cortisol, Anti-in ammatory hormones, stress hormones. Cholesterol is also
needed for cell membranes which require Cholesterol. It’s also used to repair damage
in the body, and is involved in brain activity (which is why if you don’t have enough
Cholesterol you have memory loss). It’s also used to make Vitamin D, Bile, and it also
has other purposes, for example it binds and inactivates bacterial toxins, prevents
damage from microbes, etc.
- Or it’s going to go through the liver and out from the body
- And your body makes a lot of Cholesterol (3000 mg per day). When you eat more
cholesterol your body will make less, and if you eat less cholesterol your body will
make more (a feedback mechanism), because usually 75% of the body makes cho-
lesterol while 25% is from diet.
- And because cholesterol and the blood don’t have the best relationship, they’re put in
protein capsules, which are LDL, HDL, etc.
- LDL’s general function takes cholesterol and drives it into the blood and out to the tis-
sues, and HDL takes the excess and puts it back into the liver
- And we need to know that there are two types of LDL, Type A pattern LDL which is
large and buoyant and therefore is good, while Type B pattern LDL is bad for you and
dense and is the one which causes heart attacks, strokes, etc, because it invades the
endothelium, it can oxidise and can build up plaque
- When you do intermittent fasting, you will see a huge drop in triglycerides (which
transports excess Carbs, so high level of triglycerides means higher blood sugar) and
a huge drop in LDL, but a spike in HDL, and you may see a spike in cholesterol be-
cause it’s being mobilised
- And in order to determine whether the levels are good, we use the triglycerides/HDL
ratio, if it’s 2 or lower then it’s good. So the lower the better. And generally, if the trigly-
cerides are high and the HDL is lower, it means you have more Type B (the bad LDL),
but if your triglycerides are low (which is what happens during intermittent fasting as
its temporarily used as a form of energy while the fat is now being used to generate
energy) and HDL is high (which is also what happens during intermittent fasting), then
you have more Type A LDL.
- And we also need to establish that high Cholesterol isn’t in and of itself a bad thing,
rather we look at the remnant Cholesterol (which is what is left over from Cholesterol
once you’ve subtracted the HDL and LDL), and if it’s less than 17 it optimum, if it’s 18-
23 it’s okay, if it’s 24-29 its concerning, and if its bigger than 30 it can be dangerous.
And the only way it reaches the concerning levels is if you consume sugary foods,
which is not ideal in a diet anyway, as well as very carb rich foods.

Another objection raised is whether or not Fasting helps Gastritis:

- It’s multifaceted, a double edged sword. Some studies suggest it helps gastritis, some
studies suggest it doesn’t. And the reports from many patients are also not straight-
forward pointing towards one direction, rather, there are some patients on one side of
the sword saying it alleviates (ie gets rid of) gastritis, and some patients on the other.
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- Therefore, it’s not correct to pick a side in this dilemma, rather we have to acknow-
ledge that it’s entirely dependent on the person from where my knowledge extends to.

Another objection is that skipping breakfast causes one to binge eat later on in the day,
although there are correlations of this4, this does not prove a causation. In fact:
- There is a study published in the British peer reviewed journal of nutrition which re-
searches have said “challenges” all the studies which oppose this due to the over-
whelmingly convincing results5
- There was also another study from Melbourne, Australia who further supported that
leaving breakfast does not in any way cause someone to binge eat later. And this is
highlighted in an article written by Harvard.6

So now we can talk about the health bene ts which are associated with this plan!

How many are there?

Many!

The health bene ts of overnight fasting (of at least 16 hours) include improving the nat-
ural process of autophagy7&8, which:
- Clears out faulty parts, cancerous growths and metabolic dysfunctions
- Helps in the reduction of in ammation in the body
- Aims to make our bodies more ef cient
- Improves the immune system and disease- ghting capability
- Massively contributes to anti-ageing
- Heightens the process of neurogenesis9
- Associated with weight loss
- Signi cantly improves metabolism

4 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09291016.2023.2254205

5https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-nutrition/article/e ect-of-breakfast-omission-and-consumption-on-energy-intake-and-physical-activity-in-adoles-
cent-girls-a-randomised-controlled-trial/1FCA87437794406CF119F09E783C8130

6 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-breakfast-wont-help-you-lose-weight-but-skipping-might-not-either-2019041916457

7 https://blog.ultimateperformance.com/the-advantages-of-skipping-breakfast/
8 https://www.medicinenet.com/what_happens_to_you_when_you_fast_for_16_hours/art-
icle.htm and https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-breakfast-wont-help-you-lose-weight-
but-skipping-might-not-either-2019041916457
9 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2su8e-nhMGw&t=40s
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But it doesn’t stop there!

There are also considerable animal studies which have repeatedly demonstrated a vig-
orous, positive response of various health indicators to intermittent fasting regimens10
(even fasting for at least two days each week, which is the practice of Prophet
Muhammad ‫ ﷺ‬every Monday and Thursday). These include:
- improved insulin sensitivity (and it generally helps with reducing the urge to crave at
the wrong times and the wrong foods)
- a reduction of body fat, atherogenic lipids, blood pressure, and IGF-1 (reduced secre-
tion of IGF-1 is associated with delayed onset of cognition impairments, glucose dys-
regulation, cancer, and extended lifespan11).
- Delays the progression of neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s,
and Huntington’s disease.
- Demonstrates promising results in protection against metabolic syndrome and other
lifestyle diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
- A notable cellular process that is up-regulated during times of fasting includes the in-
hibition of the tyrosine kinase enzyme. Inhibition of this enzyme is a backbone for the
treatment of many types of cancer

Therefore, we can conclude that leaving breakfast is indeed packaged with a myriad of
health bene ts.

10 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534877/
5Bartke A, List EO, Kopchick JJ. The somatotropic axis and aging: bene ts of endocrine defects. Growth Horm IGF Res.
11

2016;27:41‐45.
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