Protein-rich breakfast helps regulate appetite throughout the morning

Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 20th November 2013

Eating high-protein sausage and egg-based breakfasts curbed hunger throughout the morning, compared with a low-protein breakfast of pancakes and syrup or not breakfast, according to a new study from Biofortis Clinical Research.

The research, presented at The Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Atlanta on 14 November 2013, examined the impact of different types of breakfast on 18 to 55-year-old women.

“Eating a breakfast rich in protein significantly improves appetite control and may help women to avoid overeating later in the day,” said Kevin C. Maki, Principal Investigator of the study and a research scientist with Biofortis Clinical Research, a Merieux NutriSciences company.

Method

All of the breakfast meals served as part of the study contained approximately 300 calories and similar quantities of fat and fibre. The protein-rich breakfast bowls contained 30 to 39 grams of protein.

Participants completed questionnaires to rate aspects of appetite — such as hunger, fullness and desire to eat — before breakfast and at 30 minute intervals between breakfast and lunch. A standard lunch meal of tortellini and sauce was served, and subjects were asked to eat until comfortably full.

Study participants had improved appetite ratings (lower hunger, more fullness, less desire to eat) throughout the morning after eating each protein-rich breakfast, and also ate fewer calories at lunch, compared with the low-protein breakfast and breakfast-skipping (water only) groups.

“In the US, many people choose to skip breakfast or choose low-protein foods because of a lack of high-protein convenient choices,” said Heather Leidy, an Assistant Professor specialising in appetite regulation at the University of Missouri and a co-author on the study. “These results demonstrate that commercially-prepared protein-rich meals can help women feel full until lunch time and potentially avoid overeating, and improve diet quality,” she said.

The research, entitled ‘Acute Satiety Effects of Sausage/Egg-based Convenience Breakfast Meals in Premenopausal Women’, was a joint effort by Biofortis Clinical Research, Chicago, a division of Merieux NutriSciences, and the University of Missouri’s Department of Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, Columbia. Funding for the research was provided by Hillshire Brands, Chicago.