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Effect of breakfast on weight and energy intake: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

K. Sievert, S. Hussain, M. Page, Yuan-Yuan Wang, Harrison J Hughes, Mary Malek, F. Cicuttini

British medical journal, 2019

171 citations

Abstract

Abstract Objective To examine the effect of regular breakfast consumption on weight change and energy intake in people living in high income countries. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed, Ovid Medline, and CINAHL were searched for randomised controlled trials published between January 1990 and January 2018 investigating the effect of breakfast on weight or energy intake. ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization’s International Clinical Trials Registry Platform search portal were also searched in October 2018 to identify any registered yet unpublished or ongoing trials. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Randomised controlled trials from high income countries in adults comparing breakfast consumption with no breakfast consumption that included a measure of body weight or energy intake. Two independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Random effects meta-analyses of the effect of breakfast consumption on weight and daily energy intake were performed. Results Of 13 included trials, seven examined the effect of eating breakfast on weight change, and 10 examined the effect on energy intake. Meta-analysis of the results found a small difference in weight favouring participants who skipped breakfast (mean difference 0.44 kg, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.82), but there was some inconsistency across trial results (I2=43%). Participants assigned to breakfast had a higher total daily…

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