We have been thinking of putting together a book proposal. It’s going to be called The Slow and Steady Diet – Achieve modest long-term health benefits by broadly following conventional dietary guidelines.
To be honest, we are not that hopeful. It seems that these days, in order to command media attention, it pays to say something a little more controversial.
And so it is with the latest title adding to the confusing array of dietary health books that hits the shelves in January: Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal by Terence Kealy, a professor of clinical biochemistry. As far as headline generation goes, this has it all. An inflammatory title, a message that challenges conventional wisdom and an outspoken author.
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Its release certainly attracted attention. In a series of articles and interviews, Kealy said that his ritual of avoiding breakfast “effectively cured” his type 2 diabetes. Given he had this condition, it is understandable that he would be interested in the impact of diet on his blood glucose. Fair enough. But he has also stated that ““.
The book is a case study in the growing trend of prominent dietary advice coming from unexpected quarters. Although Kealy is a professor, he is not one of nutrition, psychology, eating behaviour or weight management. He is also no stranger to controversy, having and questioned the .
Making a meal of it
Like much in nutritional science, the health impacts of breakfast are more complex and nuanced than the book’s title suggests. There is plenty of good evidence that this meal has more benefits than risks. Large – typically looking at diet and health in many thousands of people in their normal lives rather than in lab-style experiments – have shown that frequent breakfast consumption appears to have a protective effect against type 2 diabetes. Literature in the emerging area of chrononutrition also suggests .
And there are showing that skipping breakfast can lead to obesity, reduced insulin sensitivity and other serious metabolic abnormalities.
In making recommendations about how and when we should eat, there are other factors to consider. On the importance of eating breakfast, , a professor of health psychology, says that “it establishes a routine of meal eating, food preparation and effort, learning to link hunger with eating and being able to ignore the environmental food triggers at work between meals. It also leads to better concentration during the morning.”
Like any meal, breakfast can be a great source of nutrition, a wonderful start to the day, and a joyous celebration of food and flavour. And like any meal it can be bad for you if you only ever eat a stack of sausages or sugary treats to start each day.
Let’s enjoy breakfast, not demonise it.
