Breakfast Dilemma: Will Skipping the Morning Meal Pile on the Pounds

In October 2024, researchers from Zhejiang University Medical School published a research paper in the journal Cell. It is said that the “not eating breakfast” lifestyle can lead to excessive absorption of lipids in the cells of the small intestine, which can lead to easy weight gain and increase the risk of metabolic diseases.

The small intestine is the main place where the human body absorbs external nutrients. To study the long-term effects of skipping breakfast on the small intestine, the researchers divided the mice into three groups.

1. Group skipping breakfast

2. Group skipping lunch

3. Group skipping dinner

As a result, compared to the other groups, the small rats in the “breakfast skipping group” showed a slight increase in body weight. Skipping breakfast significantly increased the expression of major cholesterol transporter genes in the intestine and also increased the expression of fatty acid transporter genes, showing a greater impact on adaptation to nutrient absorption.

Surprisingly, these mice maintained higher lipid absorption even after they stopped skipping breakfast. Additionally, skipping breakfast increases the risk of metabolic diseases. Studies have shown that skipping breakfast improves cholesterol absorption in the small intestine, which increases whole-body serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels.

Furthermore, if you skip breakfast, the area of atherosclerotic lesions increases significantly and more lipids and collagen accumulate in these lesions.

Overall, skipping breakfast not only doesn’t help you lose weight, but actually causes weight gain. More importantly, not eating breakfast increases the absorption of lipids and cholesterol in the small intestine and the risk of metabolic diseases. This is why it is very important to have breakfast.