注意啦注意啦 不吃早餐會讓你變胖

Ask Well: Does Skipping Breakfast Cause Weight Gain?

不吃早餐會讓你變胖？

Question:

問：

Does skipping breakfast cause weight gain?

不吃早餐會導致體重增加麼？

When I was younger, my mother said that if I don’t eat breakfast then I’ll “train” my metabolism to slow down, thus leading to weight gain and associated heAlth issues. I prefer to just have some tea and eat a snack a few hours after getting up. Any truth to her theory?

在我小一些的時候，媽媽說，如果不吃早餐，我的新陳代謝就會被“訓練”得減慢下來，從而導致體重增加和相關的健康問題。可我比較喜歡起牀後的一兩個小時內只喝茶吃點心。媽媽的理論到底對不對？

Answer:

答：

The food industry has promoted this claim for decades to sell breakfast cereal. But rigorous scientific studies have found no evidence that it’s true.

數十年來，食品行業一直在宣傳這種說法，以便推銷他們的早餐麥片。但是，嚴謹的科學研究並未發現有什麼證據可以證明這種理論。

The idea that a hearty breakfast is good for your health dates back to the 1920s, when Edward Bernays, a public relations guru, led a nationwide media campaign encouraging people to start their mornings with bacon and eggs. One of Mr. Bernays’s clients at the time was Beech-Nut Packing Company, which sold bacon and other pork products.

豐盛的早餐有益健康這種說法可以追溯到20世紀20年代，當時有個名叫愛德華·伯內斯(Edward Bernays)的公關大佬領導了一項全國性的媒體宣傳活動，鼓勵人們早餐吃培根和雞蛋。而當時，伯內斯先生的一個客戶正是銷售培根等豬肉製品的比納肉類加工公司(Beech-Nut Packing Company)。

In the decades that followed, dozens of observational studies reported that breakfast eaters tended to be leaner. Though these studies could not show cause and effect, many health authorities and food companies asserted that they proved that eating breakfast protects against weight gain.

在隨後的幾十年裏，數十項觀察性研究報告指出，吃早餐的人往往更瘦。儘管這些研究並不能證明其中的因果關係，但很多健康專家和食品公司都宣稱他們已經證實，吃早餐可以防止體重增加。

But experimental studies that randomly assigned people to eat or skip breakfast have found no such thing. One of the most recent, published in February, found no difference “in weight change and most health outcomes” between people assigned to eat breakfast for six weeks and those assigned to skip it.

然而，在將人隨機分爲吃早餐組和不吃早餐組的實驗研究中，並沒有得出此類結論。最近的一項2月發表的研究發現，在六週期間，分配入吃早餐組與不吃早餐組的參與者在“體重和絕大多數健康預後方面”沒有什麼差異。

“Whether or not you have breakfast in itself is not going to impact your body weight,” said James Betts, an author of the study and an associate professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Bath in England.

該研究的作者、英國巴斯大學(University of Bath)的營養和代謝學副教授詹姆斯·貝茨(James Betts)說：“吃不吃早餐本身並不會影響你的體重。”

Dr. Betts said that unlike randomized trials, observational studies of breakfast consumption could be misleading. They show, for example, that people who eat breakfast also follow other behaviors associated with good health. They tend to drink and smoke less, consume less sugar, eat more fiber and exercise more than those who skip a morning meal.

貝茨博士說，與隨機試驗不同，關於吃早餐的觀察性研究有可能會造成誤導。例如，它們顯示，吃早餐的人往往也遵循與身體健康相關的其他行爲。與不吃早餐的人相比，吃早餐者一般較少抽菸喝酒，糖的攝入量更少，較多地攝入纖維性食物，鍛鍊也更加積極。

“All we know from observational studies is that people who have breakfast are leaner,” he said. “But it may be other factors that are the reason.”

“我們從觀察性研究得知的只是吃早餐的人更瘦。”他說。“但是，在其中發揮因果作用的很可能是其他的因素。”