Along with old classics like ‘carrots give you night vision’ and ‘Santa doesn’t bring toys to misbehaving children’, one of the most well-worn phrases in the arsenal of tired parents everywhere is that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Many of us grow up believing that skipping breakfast is a dietary travesty – even if only two thirds of adults in the UK eat breakfast regularly, according to the Association of UK Dieticians (BDA), and around three-quarters of Americans.
The clue for why breakfast is supposed to be important is in its name: we’re advised to eat it to break our overnight fast.
“The body uses a lot of energy stores for growth and repair through the night,” explains dietician Sarah Elder. “Eating a balanced breakfast helps to up our energy, as well as protein and calcium used throughout the night.”
