Breakfast Consumption Augments Appetite, Eating Behavior, and Exploratory Markers of Sleep Quality Compared with Skipping Breakfast in Healthy Young Adults

https://doi.org/10.1093/cdn/nzy074Get rights and content
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Abstract

Background

Observational studies show associations between breakfast skipping, reduced satiety, and poor sleep quality; however, intervention studies are lacking.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of consuming breakfast compared with breakfast skipping on appetitive, hormonal, and neural markers of appetite and satiety; ad libitum food intake; and exploratory measures of sleep health in young adults.

Methods

Thirteen adults [aged 23.5 ± 0.9 y (mean ± SEMs); body mass index (kg/m2): 23.6 ± 0.6] completed the following randomized crossover-design study. Participants consumed a high-protein breakfast (“Breakfast”; 340 kcal, 30 g protein, 36 g carbohydrate, 9 g fat) or skipped breakfast (“Skip”) for 7 d/treatment. On day 7, an 8-h clinical testing day was completed including assessments of hunger, fullness, desire to eat, prospective food consumption (PFC), related hormones, food cue–stimulated functional magnetic resonance imaging brain scans, and ad libitum evening food intake. Sleep quantity and quality were assessed with 7-d actigraphy, 7-d sleep diaries, and sleep-related hormones.

Results

Morning and daily hunger, desire to eat, PFC, and ghrelin decreased, whereas fullness increased after the Breakfast pattern compared with after the Skip pattern (all, P < 0.05). No difference in peptide YY (PYY) concentrations were detected. Hippocampal, parahippocampal, and middle frontal gyrus activations were reduced after the Breakfast pattern compared with the Skip pattern (all, P < 0.01). Although no differences in daily food intake were observed, the Breakfast pattern reduced evening intake of high-carbohydrate and high-fat foods (P < 0.05), whereas evening sugar intake tended to be reduced compared with the Skip pattern (P = 0.085). Although Breakfast led to shorter total sleep time (TST) compared with Skip (P < 0.05), no difference in sleep efficiency (TST/sleep period) was detected. Perceived sleep quality and sleep onset tended to improve after Breakfast compared with after Skip (P = 0.060 and P = 0.07, respectively).

Conclusion

Breakfast consumption improved appetite, satiety, and diet quality and may support some aspects of sleep health in healthy young adults. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03031132. Curr Dev Nutr 2018;0:nzy074

Keywords:

breakfast
appetite
satiety
snacking
sleep

Abbreviations used:

ES
effect size
PYY
peptide YY
TST
total sleep time

Cited by (0)

The Egg Nutrition Center supplied the funds to conduct hormonal analyses but was not involved in the design, implementation, analysis, or interpretation of data.

Author disclosures: JAG, no conflicts of interest. HJL serves on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Speaker Board and is on the scientific and/or medical advisory boards for Sabra, BeachBody LLC, and MilkPEP.

Supplemental Figures 1–3 and Supplemental Table 1 are available from the “Supplementary data” link in the online posting of the article and from the same link in the online table of contents at https://academic.oup.com/cdn/.