Prefer to skip breakfast? It's OK.

We’ve always heard that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” That old saw appears to have had a number of origins—but they all point to breakfast food companies. Apparently it first appeared in a 1917 issue of “Good Health,” a magazine edited by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (I’m sure you’ll recognize that name). In the 20’s, a public relations guru led a nation-wide campaign on the importance of eating a hearty breakfast, which was spun as doctors’ advice. This guru, by the way, was Sigmund Freud’s nephew and is considered the father of public relations. The campaign was on behalf of his client, Beech-Nut Packing Company, which sold bacon and other pork products.

More recently breakfast food companies have promoted the claim that skipping breakfast causes weight gain. Rigorous scientific studies have found no evidence to support that claim. The most recent experimental study, 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.” So skip breakfast if you can’t face it in the morning.

The New York Times Magazine did a poll asking their readers how many days of the week they eat breakfast. Surprisingly (to me), 75% ate breakfast every day; 6% never ate breakfast; the rest were in between (they ate breakfast some days). I'm not sure what the results mean: Times readers believe it's "the most important meal of the day"?  Breakfast eaters were more likely to respond to the poll? Most people eat breakfast every day?

I’m not particularly hungry first thing, but I crave orange juice or grapefruit. Normally I eat grapefruit, a couple of eggs and buttered toast for breakfast. (We go through two or three dozen eggs a week.) Nevertheless, by 10:30 I’m hungry again. Healthy appetite.

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