Metabolic and Cognitive Health
Here’s Why Biased Studies Cannot Convince Me to Eat Breakfast.
I independently analyze a sample study trying to show the adverse effects of skipping breakfast on human cognition.
Purpose of the Article
This article closely and independently analyzes a widely misinterpreted scientific study in China related to misleading conclusions about the cognitive effects of skipping breakfast. This piece is for information and awareness purposes based on my reviews, observations, and experiences on this topic.
Background
A few months ago, I posted an article titled When I Skipped Breakfasts for Two Decades, I Gained Copious Benefits. In the story, I explained how skipping breakfast and replacing it with three better routines made me healthier and fitter.
Since then, many discerning readers have shown interest in skipping one meal and shared their experiences. Most of them believe that breakfast is not the most important meal of the day.
I don’t eat breakfast for long. However, I am not against breakfast. It might work for some and not for other people. For example, my loved ones eat breakfast. I graciously prepared a healthy breakfast for them. But I have no slight appetite while cooking and joining them in their breakfast with a glass of pure water in the mornings.
Recently, some readers sent me a scientific paper asserting that skipping breakfast causes cognitive decline and adversely affects cognitive functions.
I reviewed the study and decided to analyze it for my readers, wearing my science and sensible biohacking hats, highlighting the key points without going into scientific details.
My goal is to clarify misperceptions about the effects of skipping breakfast or any other meal on cognitive function, not to criticize researchers whom I respect. I believe they do their best within their capacity and capability.
First, let me give you a little background about my studies on cognition and my experience with skipping breakfast and lunch at a later stage so that my analysis can make sense.
Reflections from My Experience and Observations
I’ve studied human and machine cognition since the mid-80s in scientific and academic settings. I also observe others and apply cognitive knowledge for my neurological health, creativity, and productivity.
I’m pedantic about nutritional deficiencies and unnecessary caloric restriction after suffering the problems such as muscle loss and mood fluctuations in my younger years. Both can have a detrimental effect on the overall body and the brain.
I know it from the established literature. Suffering from the consequences of these poor practices in my younger years made me extra cautious.
However, skipping meals does not equate to nutritional deficiency or caloric restriction. I consume more calories with better nutrition when skipping breakfast and lunch than the times when eating six times a day.
For example, I consume 200 grams of healthy fat with bioavailable proteins and nutrient-dense food in my one meal-a-day plan that helps me thrive. But I know that it is not suitable for everyone.
My current cognitive abilities in older age in one meal are multiple times better than my younger age while consuming three meals and three snacks a day. I am also aware of significant improvement in my cognitive reserves and neurogenesis.
For example, I haven’t eaten a single breakfast or lunch for over a decade but did not feel any cognitive decline. Instead, my cognitive abilities, especially attention, focus, working memory, and problem-solving, significantly improved based on objective and subjective measures.
Many biohacker friends with a science background and executive roles skip breakfast like me for decades. They all test their metabolic health and cognitive capabilities rigorously using the state of art technologies. None of them so far mentioned any adverse effects.
Far from that, they always highlight the importance of skipping a meal, especially breakfast which seems to be much easier and more beneficial for them.
Some entrepreneurs and leaders also recommend to their staff members that they celebrate skipping breakfast as they see noticeable benefits for their cognitive performance at work.
After this background, let me introduce this study some writers and journalists use as scientific evidence. After reading my analysis, you might see how misleading scientific studies can be if they are not examined carefully.
A Brief Analysis of the Paper
The paper is titled “The effects of breakfast on short-term cognitive function among Chinese white-collar workers” and published in BMC.
First of all, to credit the researchers, they wrote the paper in good quality with clear and scientific language. I have no issue with the paper apart from a few spelling mistakes, which do not matter to me, but I am concerned with the study method hence the conclusions of the article.
I don’t know the authors. I have complete respect for their research and profession. However, I have concerns with the study methods and their conclusions.
Interestingly, the goals of researchers are highly ambitious. They assert that “The results of this study should provide scientific evidence of the effect of breakfast quality on cognitive function and provide scientific data to inform nutrition education strategies and promote a healthy lifestyle.”
To achieve this goal, researchers gathered 264 participants aged between 25 and 45 years from Shenyang and Chongqing. They asked self-administered questions to collect information on age, gender, marital status, education level, occupation, smoking habits, drinking habits, and breakfast behaviors.
They randomly assigned participants to three equal-sized groups, namely a nutrition-adequate breakfast, a nutrition-inadequate breakfast, or no breakfast. Each participant received the breakfast treatment based on these categories.
Each participant completed cognitive tests assessing short-term memory, attention, and working memory 120 minutes after breakfast. They assessed mood through a self-administered questionnaire looking at their positive and negative frames of mind for three weeks.
Possibly astute readers immediately picked up flaws in such a study asserting scientific evidence of the effect of breakfast quality on cognitive function.
First of all, 264 Chinese white color people between 25 and 45 are not a representative group. We don’t know the gender allocation even though they mention females in the nutrition profile.
Secondly, three weeks is an extremely short time frame to make an informed assessment of cognitive functions, especially for dietary intervention.
The main benefit of skipping breakfast comes from the fat adaption of the body producing ketone bodies as alternative energy for the brain, changing the brain chemistry favorably for better cognition, for example, increasing β-Hydroxybutyrate (BHP) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF).
It is impossible for one’s body to be fat adapted in less than three weeks. It took me six months to gain a fat-adapted body when I first time skipped my breakfast. It took me at least a month to go into my first ketosis after cutting breakfast.
So those poor fellows had their cognitive tests in the worst time when their bodies were just trying to move from sugar to fat-burning mode. This transition period is a traumatic time for the body and brain to adapt to new biochemistry.
No wonder they performed poorly. I also wonder if these guys were heavy breakfast eaters and volunteered not to eat for three weeks for a bit of cash offered by the research project. But this is only my speculation which might be false or true.
And who knows, these disadvantaged groups ate lunch and dinner excessively after starvation, feelings of first time not eating breakfast causing metabolic and biochemical imbalances.
But more seriously, how can scientists and policymakers confirm that skipping breakfast can significantly impact cognitive function from such a poorly designed study?
The study also talks about short-term cognitive function, not long-term specifically. But unfortunately, fitness writers or health journalists consuming this study use blanket statements like “skipping breakfast ruins cognitive functions” or “skipping breakfast causes brain damage according to scientists.”
Perhaps the study’s authors are correct that the study implicated short-term benefits of eating breakfast for good nutrition in the morning for a stressful life in China for that age group. But it does not apply to everyone. I know several centenarians in my circles don’t eat food until midday to feel good.
When I looked at the inadequate nutrition group, I got shocked. They gave 87.1 grams of carbs to males and 75.5 grams to the female member of this group in a nutrition-deficient diet with no beef and eggs provided to them with high carbs. But the favored group got beef and eggs, which slowed down the carb digestion. So the comparison does not make sense in terms of skipping breakfast.
Of course, 70 to 80 grams of carbs with little protein and fat will raise the blood sugar immediately, spike insulin, and cause an instant crash. No wonder that group made it so badly. It does not require a scientific study to prove this.
But comparing this poor group to the favored group (eating 30 grams of beef and 30 grams of bean curd) and showing their poor cognition does not make any scientific sense.
The researchers showed biased toward the breakfast eating group overtly. And Surprise! surprise! Whenever I start reading a paper related to nutrition or related lifestyle topics, I always check the disclaimers and sponsors of the studies.
“The authors thank the PepsiCo Asia R&D Center for funding this survey on breakfast and cognitive function among white-collar workers. The grants supporting this research were provided by the Pepsi Research & Development Center in Asia. According to the contract, there are no other economic interests between the researchers and the funding agency.”
I corrected minor spelling mistakes in the quote.
This resource informs that “PepsiCo will also use the [innovation] center to tailor its food and beverage brands for local taste preferences in the Asia Pacific region, including Lay’s potato chips, where “locally relevant” flavors include cucumber, ice lemon tea, hot and sour fish soup, and seaweed.”
I don’t need to articulate the implications of food companies sponsoring research on breakfast. Discerning readers can interpret it better than I can. Here’s Why I Take Science with a Grain of Salt.
The researchers say that “as the first meal of the day, breakfast plays an important role in supplying energy and nutrients, which are critical to working and learning activities.”
How can they determine that breakfast supplies energy and nutrients within two hours? It takes many hours for nutrients to be digested, turns into amino acids, to create necessary neurotransmitters.
Most likely, our dinner can contribute better to our morning mental performance than breakfast.
With due respect to researchers, when we look at the study closely, it sounds like they compare apples with oranges.
There might be more flaws in the study, but I only focus on understanding what is presented in the paper and what is important to my readers.
Conclusions and Takeaways
This 2017 Chinese study I analyzed concludes that skipping breakfast adversely affects cognition. However, a 2019 study from the neurology department of New Zeland concludes that:
“Fasting improves cognition, stalls age-related cognitive decline, usually slows neurodegeneration, reduces brain damage and enhances functional recovery after stroke, and mitigates the pathological and clinical features of epilepsy and multiple sclerosis.”
I read hundreds of studies highlighting the cognitive benefits of fasting or skipping a meal. Therefore, I am adamant about fasting accompanied by intense workouts and meditation.
Fasting has been a medical intervention method since the 1920s. Time-restricted eating or intermittent fasting has been a game-changing lifestyle for the last decade. Intermittent fasting and ketogenetic diets tick all the boxes of health goals, as explained in this article.
Fast mimicking diets gave us significant clues about the metabolic effects of refraining from food systematically and being embraced by the science, nutrition, fitness, and longevity communities.
You might check the outstanding work of an elite scientist Dr. Walter Longo, who is shaking the globe from a longevity aspect. You might check the work of a medical doctor, Jason Fung, on fasting for treating type II diabetes and obesity.
Of course, skipping a meal and fasting is not for everyone. Some people perform better with frequent meals, and some need it for underlying health conditions.
However, thousands of people safely fast or skip breakfast. Social media and the internet are full of testimonies. Scientists, athletes, entrepreneurs, and health and fitness enthusiasts fast or skip a meal, especially breakfast. There are clubs and events celebrating success.
If fasting or skipping a meal was terrible, as alluded to some biased or poorly designed studies, we wouldn’t have seen so much cheer factor in society. Have you seen any scientist, athlete, entrepreneur, or fitness enthusiast cheering for cigarette smoking?
Members of every major religion and numerous spiritual practices fast for centuries. I don’t think they lost cognitive function.
Most likely, they gained better cognitive abilities with a sharp mind and emotional intelligence showing their compassion for poor people. Here’s Why Spiritual People Are Adamant About Fasting.
I wish I had learned the benefits of skipping breakfast or another meal in my younger years. What If We Can Package Fasting as a Therapeutic Tool?
As mentioned in this recent article, I No Longer Do Keto and Intermittent Fasting for Weight Loss as I’ve No Fat to Lose. But I continue them for six other reasons improving cellular, metabolic, hormonal, and cognitive health.
Researchers, writers, or journalists should keep in mind that scientists proved β-Hydroxybutyrate, as a by-product of fasting or skipping meals, is not just clean energy for the brain but also signaling molecules for our genes, making remarkable metabolic, hormonal, and neurological effects in the body and brain.
Mental clarity and the reduction of inflammation are prime examples of staying in ketosis. I love nutrition science, but I take it with a grain of salt.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
Petechiae, ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
As part of my creative non-fiction writing goals, I’d like to share a few stories that might warm our hearts with a bit of humor into weighty topics.
Sample Humorous Stories
Finally, After Burning Her House, Georgia Found Enlightenment
Hilarious Tips to Prevent Brain Atrophy and Keep the Gray Matter Giggling
8 Psychological Points I Had to Unlearn and Relearn the Opposite
Based on my writing experience and observations, I documented findings and strategies that might help you amplify your voice, engage your audience, and achieve your desired outcomes in your writing journey.
I publish my lifestyle, health, and well-being stories on EUPHORIA. My focus is on cellular, mitochondrial, metabolic, and mental health. Here is my collection of Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories.
You might join my six publications on Medium as a writer by sending a request via this link. 26K writers contribute to my publications. You might find more information about my professional background.
As a writer, blogger, content developer, and reader, you might join Medium, Vocal Media, NewsBreak, Medium Writing Superstars, Writing Paychecks, WordPress, Cliqly, and Thinkers360 with my referral links. These affiliate links will not cost you extra to join the services.