Is breakfast the “most important meal of the day”, and should we rethink it now to save our health for later?

Many people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But is it, and what happens if you skip the traditional breakfast? Will you wilt and be sluggish, and will it shrink your ability to be creative or study? And where did the idea originate?

You guessed it: Lobbyists were involved once the idea was offered by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud who patched together several factors that could be used to create a new persona for breakfast.

A physician agreed with Bernays that a heavy breakfast of bacon and eggs was better for you than a light breakfast. The physician then sent this statement to about 5,000 doctors and asked them to sign it. Newspapers reported the petition’s results as if they were a scientific study. Bacon and eggs became king as the best breakfast for everyone.

We see the same sort of consumer manipulation in certain pharmaceutical products, where you may note "more hospitals use…" for a certain analgesic. What it really means is that pharmaceutical firms give hospitals free medication to dispense to their patients, so of course, more of them use it. Have you ever thought of that?

Of course, Bernays was one of many involved in efforts to increase the importance of breakfast, and for that, we have to look at John Harvey Kellogg. A physician, he was also an advocate of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where some unusual techniques were used to maintain health.

John's brother Keith Kellogg came up with the breakfast food, corn flakes. The result, of course, was a fortune in the making. Breakfast cereals then burst on the American scene as the answer to an increasing workforce's need for something quick and nutritious to start the day off. Cereal was later manufactured with additional nutrients, which only increased its allure. After Kellogg's, of course, came other high-profile breakfast cereals, such as the ones created by C. W. Post. The breakfast wars were on.

Statistics show that in 2020, 283.39 million Americans ate cold breakfast foods. In 2024, this number was expected to rise to 290.32 million. Consumption mainly relies on effective advertising in the midst of inconclusive scientific results, so the only thing we know is that the product's marketing and public relations have been successful in finding a robust market.

Even the slogan "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" was in service of a product that needed to be sold. James Caleb Jackson and John Harvey Kellogg came up with it in the 1800s to promote their new breakfast cereal.

Unfortunately, dinner and lunch were never treated the same, and we still only eat a few types of foods for breakfast and it is still mostly breakfast foods like cereal, bacon and eggs, rolls, bagels, and biscuits. I recall that as a graduate student, I did consume an orange-flavored product called Instant Breakfast before I went to my first morning class, skipping breakfast completely.

A professor I knew changed his entire eating schedule around. He had steak, potatoes, vegetables, and toast in the morning. In the evening, instead of a regular dinner, he had yogurt, fruit, and possibly a small salad. By following this eating schedule, he lost nearly 100 pounds. His strategy involved consuming more calories in the morning, which could be burned off throughout the day, than having a larger meal at night. So, for him, breakfast was the most important meal of the day, but it differed from what we usually think of as breakfast.

In recent years, breakfast has been linked to controlling weight, being a cardiometabolic risk factor, and problems with brain function. Although breakfast is commonly seen as essential for a healthy diet, people often ignore the nutritional value of their food.

But is there some science to back up the claims about breakfast and how it ranks in our daily eating schedule? People who are into fitness and health are becoming more interested in intermittent fasting, so you may be wondering if you can go without breakfast. When you do intermittent fasting, you do not have to eat breakfast; you are told not to. Most people do a 16-hour fast overnight, then eat anything they want for 8 hours.

Still, nutritionists have long said that breakfast is very important. Nutritionists at Henry Ford Health say breakfast sets the tone for the day. Is it better to skip breakfast or wait until later? It depends.

Patients who are overweight might not be able to eat much, or they may need to reduce the amount of energy they consume. According to research, eating breakfast daily can help us stay alert and focused at work and school. Eating breakfast can help you feel full and prevent overeating later in the day, which can help maintain your weight.

A new study suggests that adults who skip breakfast are likely to miss out on the most abundant nutrients in the foods that make up morning meals. Skipping breakfast can leave you without important nutrients for the entire day, as in this study of over 30,000 American adults.

Should you skip breakfast? The answer for you depends on a number of things, including the calories you will need in the morning, your weight control issues, as well as health issues, and what type of diet you find most effective for yourself.

It would be wonderful if there were one hard-and-fast rule for breakfast, but it appears that there are a number of differing experts and studies that either are pro or con eating breakfast. It's not an easy issue, and it will be debated as long as there are people eating breakfast and breakfast interests providing material to patients and physicians alike.

If the state of medical education is as it was when I was working in public relations for pharmaceutical companies, young medical students receive possibly two hours on diet and I suspect there is very little on breakfast during those seminars.

Breakfast or not? You decide with the help of your healthcare providers.