Ask Well: Does Skipping Breakfast Cause Weight Gain?

不吃早餐会让你变胖？

Question:

问：

Does skipping breakfast cause weight gain?

不吃早餐会导致体重增加么？

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?

在我小一些的时候，妈妈说，如果不吃早餐，我的新陈代谢就会被“训练”得减慢下来，从而导致体重增加和相关的健康问题。可我比较喜欢起床后的一两个小时内只喝茶吃点心。妈妈的理论到底对不对？

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.

数十年来，食品行业一直在宣传这种说法，以便推销他们的早餐麦片。但是，严谨的科学研究并未发现有什么证据可以证明这种理论。

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.

丰盛的早餐有益健康这种说法可以追溯到20世纪20年代，当时有个名叫爱德华·伯内斯(Edward Bernays)的公关大佬领导了一项全国性的媒体宣传活动，鼓励人们早餐吃培根和鸡蛋。而当时，伯内斯先生的一个客户正是销售培根等猪肉制品的比纳肉类加工公司(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.

在随后的几十年里，数十项观察性研究报告指出，吃早餐的人往往更瘦。尽管这些研究并不能证明其中的因果关系，但很多健康专家和食品公司都宣称他们已经证实，吃早餐可以防止体重增加。

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，在将人随机分为吃早餐组和不吃早餐组的实验研究中，并没有得出此类结论。最近的一项2月发表的研究发现，在六周期间，分配入吃早餐组与不吃早餐组的参与者在“体重和绝大多数健康预后方面”没有什么差异。

“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.

该研究的作者、英国巴斯大学(University of Bath)的营养和代谢学副教授詹姆斯·贝茨(James Betts)说：“吃不吃早餐本身并不会影响你的体重。”

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.

贝茨博士说，与随机试验不同，关于吃早餐的观察性研究有可能会造成误导。例如，它们显示，吃早餐的人往往也遵循与身体健康相关的其他行为。与不吃早餐的人相比，吃早餐者一般较少抽烟喝酒，糖的摄入量更少，较多地摄入纤维性食物，锻炼也更加积极。

“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.”

“我们从观察性研究得知的只是吃早餐的人更瘦。”他说。“但是，在其中发挥因果作用的很可能是其他的因素。”