The perfect breakfast to fill you up and improve your concentration.

Obesity is a problem of our time. The novelty is not that excess weight is due to genetics, poor diet or an overly sedentary lifestyle: What is new compared to other times is the number of people, minors and adults, in Spain who fall within the parameters of obesity. This is causing more and more people to think carefully when choosing and combining products.

The idea that breakfast is the most important meal of the day remains relevant. On the contrary: there are more and more scientific studies confirming this. This is the first appointment of each day and it determines with what energy we begin it, but there are other factors that will influence the development of the day for each individual person. Of course, a combination of certain foods can be beneficial for the vast majority of people.

The University of Aarhus (northern Denmark) recently published a study on diet and cognitive improvement that came to a clear conclusion: Protein for breakfast is a great idea, and there are two foods that provide it naturally.: skyr (a sour milk cheese similar to Greek yoghurt, very typical of Iceland) and oats.

Researcher Mette Hansen, the study’s coordinator, has been working on female obesity for years and addressed the same issue in 2019 and 2020, focusing on skyr breakfast and body fat reduction. Skyr, semi-unknown in Spain just a few years ago, can now be easily found in large stores.

Intensive Research

Job was published in the Journal of Dairy Science and was based on the responses of 30 obese women aged 18 to 30 years. in three days. During this short period of time, they were given a protein-rich breakfast, a carbohydrate-rich breakfast, or no breakfast at all. In addition to the cognitive comprehension test, satiety, hormonal response, and energy intake were measured based on a total day count.

Best protein breakfast

The study showed that A protein-rich breakfast was more filling (preventing late morning overeating) and allowed for better cognitive focus.

Of course, energy intake was not reduced compared to eating a carbohydrate-rich breakfast or fasting. Another conclusion of the study is that protein intake in the first meal should be continued at the rest of the day, always in accordance with age, constitution and body. Thus, the role of a nutritionist is key to avoid mistakes and abuse.

According to a Danish study, sedentary adults should consume at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of weight. For those who exercise regularly, this figure should double.

How to determine the degree of obesity

He The scale used to determine whether a person is obese or not is the body mass index (BMI)., which is measured by height in meters and weight in kilograms. The formula divides kilograms by the square of height. For example. 75 kg and 1.75 would be 24.48 BMI. If the BMI is below 18.5, the person is underweight; if it rises from 18.5 to 24.9, the weight is healthy; A BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered overweight, and a BMI greater than 30 is obese.

Naturally, in areas of transition to a particular category, the levels are very similar and the entire section cannot be summarized with the same adjective, even if in fact it is done. A person who is 25.1 and overweight is not the same as a person who is 29.8.

Bibliographical references

Dalgaard L.B., Kruse D.Z., Norup K., Andersen B.V. & Hansen, M. (2023). A protein-rich dairy breakfast increases satiety and pre-lunch cognitive alertness in overweight and obese young women: a randomized controlled crossover trial. Journal of Dairy Science.