要不要吃早餐，你自己說了算

從小時候起，大人們就時常告訴我們早餐——相對于午餐和晚餐——是最最重要的一餐。但是研究并非總是表明這是正確的，導(dǎo)致很多研究者和營養(yǎng)師暗示早上起來吃不吃飯更多是和個人喜好有關(guān)，和獲取營養(yǎng)優(yōu)勢關(guān)系不大。那么，什么時候絕對應(yīng)該吃早餐，什么時候或許可以不吃呢?以下就是我們所知的。

Though research on the impact of breakfast has focused on short-term effects, rather than long-term impacts, as of now, there’s no conclusive evidence that skipping the meal is damaging to your health. However as a whole, our body’s responses to breakfast are mostly positive, says Kristin Gustashaw, a clinical dietician at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center who says that most people would benefit from eating something in the mornings.

雖然對于早餐影響的研究是將重點放在了短期影響上，而不是一個長期影響，但是截至目前，沒有任何決定性的證據(jù)可以證明不吃早餐會對健康有害。不過作總的來說，我們的身體對于早餐的反應(yīng)基本上都是積極的，來自芝加哥拉什大學(xué)醫(yī)療中心的臨床營養(yǎng)師Kristin Gustashaw表示，并表示大多數(shù)人在早上吃點東西都是有好處的。

Aside from this generality, there are certain groups of people from whom breakfast is key. For athletes who need to boost their exercise performance, for those taking an exam—or anyone with tough a cognitive day ahead of them—and of course, if you wake up hungry, breakfast makes a difference.

撇去普遍性，早餐對一些特定人群來說是關(guān)鍵所在。對于那些需要增進訓(xùn)練表現(xiàn)的運動員來說，對于那些要參加考試的人來說——或者是將要面對接下來燒腦一天的任何人——而且當(dāng)然，如果你早上起來饑腸轆轆，早餐會讓一切變的不同。

In a recent study published in the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers compared the effects of eating breakfast versus fasting prior to an hour’s worth of cycling in 12 healthy men. They found that those who ate a meal of porridge with milk burned, digested, and metabolized carbohydrates better than those who extended their overnight fast.

一個發(fā)表在《美國生理學(xué)雜志：內(nèi)分泌和新陳代謝》上的近期研究中，研究人員在12位男性中對比了吃早餐和禁食對一小時自行車騎行的影響。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)那些早餐吃了牛奶麥片的人比那些通宵禁食的人消耗、消化和代謝了更多碳水化合物。

According to researchers, this is the first study looking at how our bodies respond to morning meals before exercising. “A lot of what we know about exercise is from the fasted state. We don’t know [much] about what the impact is after breakfast,” he says. “That’s a problem. We need to see how breakfast impacts health in other ways.”

據(jù)研究人員所說，這是首例著眼于我們身體對鍛煉前的早餐如何反應(yīng)的研究。“我們知道的關(guān)于鍛煉的很多都是在禁食狀態(tài)。我們還不知道太多早餐后的影響如何，”他說，“這是一個問題。我們需要了解早餐是如何在其他方面影響健康的。”

How could eating breakfast optimize performance? “Burning carbohydrate as a fuel has a number of benefits over burning fat as a fuel for many endurance performance events,” says Javier Gonzalez, a researcher in human physiology at the University of Bath in England and co-author of the study. “Carbohydrate is a more ‘rapid’ fuel and can be used to generate energy almost twice as quickly as burning fat.” In addition, using carbohydrates is more oxygen efficient; fat requires about 10 percent more oxygen to produce the same amount of energy.

吃早餐是如何優(yōu)化表現(xiàn)的呢?“在許多耐力表現(xiàn)項目里，把碳水化合物當(dāng)做燃料一樣消耗比起燃燒脂肪有更多的好處，”Genozale表示，“碳水化合物是更‘迅速’的燃料，產(chǎn)生能量的速率幾乎是燃燒脂肪的兩倍。”此外，消耗碳水化合物在氧氣使用上更有效率;產(chǎn)生同等的能量，燃燒脂肪所需的氧氣量要多10%。

So, people who need to improve their body’s capacity to be active longer, such as performance athletes and even people in physically strenuous jobs, would likely benefit from eating breakfast.

因此，那些需要提高身體能力來更持久活躍的人，比如說競技運動員和從事艱苦體力勞動的人們，很可能從早餐中獲得好處。

Past research also suggests eating breakfast is useful if you are going to work out your noggin. In fact, if you have an exam or another demanding cognitive task, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t eat breakfast. One study from 2005 found that school children perform better on tests when they’ve eaten breakfast. Ultimately, eating breakfast gives your body another chance to get the nutrients it needs, Gustashaw says. “If you spread out your nutrients, it gives your body the best cycle for metabolism.”

以往的研究同時暗示如果你要耗費腦力的話，吃早餐很有幫助。事實上，如果你要參加考試或者從事其他需要腦力的任務(wù)，如果你沒有吃早餐的話那就是在幫倒忙。一項2005年的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在學(xué)校里吃了早餐的孩子們考試成績更理想。基本上來說，吃早餐能給你的身體額外的一個機會來獲得所需的營養(yǎng)素，Gustashaw說，“營養(yǎng)素的擴散，會為你的身體提供最佳的新陳代謝循環(huán)。”

As for skipping breakfast? On average, Gustashaw says, “people who do eat breakfast [are] less overweight, less obese, [and] less likely to have diabetes.” Also, according to some studies, breakfast skippers on the other hand smoke, drink more, and exercise less. However, these are just associations; none prove a cause and effect, she says, adding that there needs to be more research into what’s happening metabolically.

至于不吃早餐?平均來說，Gustashaw表示：“吃早餐的人很少超重，很少肥胖，而且很少會患上糖尿病。”同時根據(jù)一些研究，另一方面不吃早餐的人吸煙和飲酒更多，而且鍛煉更少。不過，這些只是一些關(guān)聯(lián);沒有證據(jù)表明這是因果關(guān)系，她說，并補充表示需要更多的研究來弄清代謝的變化。

A study published last year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that skipping breakfast may have some other positive benefits: On days participants skipped breakfast, they burned more calories. However, there may be a risk to doing so. Gustashaw says this based on a 2017 study which found that skipping breakfast may cause inflammation and affect negatively affect a person’s insulin sensitivity, which affects how well the body regulates the amount of glucose in their blood.

去年發(fā)表在《美國臨床營養(yǎng)學(xué)雜志》的一項研究報告發(fā)現(xiàn)不吃早餐可能還有一些其他積極的好處：在參與者沒有吃早餐的日子里，他們?nèi)紵烁嗟臒崃?。不過，這樣做可能是有風(fēng)險的。Gustashaw說這是基于一項2017年的研究，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)不吃早餐可能會導(dǎo)致炎癥并且消極的影響到一個人對胰島素的敏感性，而這會影響到身體調(diào)節(jié)血糖水平的效果。

Another recent study that made headlines last week, found that increasing the amount of time between last night’s dinner and this morning’s breakfast could also be a successful way to lose weight. Those who either delayed breakfast by 90 minutes or ate dinner 90 minutes earlier lost more than twice as much body fat (during a 10-week period) than those participants who didn’t change up their eating times. This idea is related to the concept of chronobiology which posits that our inner biological clocks play a role in optimal body functioning. It’s an active area of research, with promise, but even the researchers of the study note that the investigation was small, and more rigorous, large studies would be needed to make sweeping conclusions.

另外一項近期研究在上周登上了頭條，該研究發(fā)現(xiàn)加大頭天晚上晚餐和第二天早餐之間的時間間隔也能有效減重。那些將早餐推遲90分鐘或者將晚餐提前90分鐘的人比那些沒有改變吃飯時間的人在10周的時間內(nèi)減掉了超過2倍的體脂。這一想法和生物鐘學(xué)的概念有關(guān)，該概念假定我們體內(nèi)的生物鐘在最優(yōu)的身體功能上起著作用。這是研究里的一個活躍領(lǐng)域，很有前景，但就連從事該研究的研究人員也指出這個調(diào)查研究很局限，并且需要更精確、更大型的研究來做出全面的結(jié)論。

And, of course, another time to skip breakfast is when you don’t have access to something healthy (i.e. avoid that donut). If you’re not eating in the morning, Gustashaw suggests planning ahead and asking yourself: Are you going to over-eat the rest of the day? When are you going to end up eating the nutrients you need? Are you going to drink enough water?

而且當(dāng)然，如果你吃不到健康的食物的時候可以不吃早餐(比如說避免吃甜甜圈)。如果你在早上沒有進食，Gustashaw建議提前做好打算并問自己：是否準(zhǔn)備在接下來的時間里暴飲暴食?打算什么時候吃一頓來補充營養(yǎng)?打算喝足夠多的水了嗎?

Gonzalez adds: “I would never say everyone should eat breakfast all of the time. It should certainly be personalized to each individual’s lifestyle.”

Gonzalez補充說：“我永遠(yuǎn)不會說所有人每天都要吃早餐。這當(dāng)然應(yīng)該根據(jù)每個人的生活方式來個人定制。”

Gustashaw also advises that we should let go of the idea of breakfast or breakfast food; she prefers to call it the first meal of the day. That means you can have a full-blown meal or just a cheese stick, depending on your lifestyle and needs.

Gustashaw同時還建議我們應(yīng)該摒棄早餐或者早餐食物的概念;她更喜歡稱之為一天的第一餐。這就意味著你可以選擇豐盛的一餐也可以選擇一根簡單的芝士棒，全看你自己的生活方式和需要了。