What You Eat For Breakfast Could Change How You Eat For the Rest of the Day

Breakfast might really be the most important meal of the day, according to University of Otago study , but not in the way we thought.

For the Marsden-funded study, published in scientific journal, Food Quality and Preference, researchers provided breakfast to 61 participants. Each was served either a plain portion of oats, or one with added vanilla aroma or non-caloric sweetness.

The researchers found post-meal satiety was similar across the different breakfasts. However, those who ate the sweetened breakfast ate significantly less sweet and more savoury snacks throughout the day, compared to those who ate the plain oats.

Using this data, co-author Dr Mei Peng, of the Department of Food Science, believes that these results should be considered when trying to increase diet adherence

“Sensory perception has a ‘long-lasting’ impact on eating, by directly influencing choices for subsequent meals. Our food choices for a meal can impact on variety seeking behaviour, which is linked to increased likelihood of weight issues.

“While overall food consumption might be driven by one’s metabolism and energy requirements, food choice is an important factor for a healthy lifestyle,” she says.

Fascinatingly, she also believes the study could be pertinent to vapers who act as my personal bubblegum-flavoured mist machines in the afternoons.

“Vaping is now a common form of sensory exposure in people’s daily lives. According to what we found, we would think vaping, which is typically associated with ‘sweet’ odours, can potentially increase appetite for savoury foods in subsequent meals. We’d need to do further research to confirm this, though.”