Egg breakfast fills you up for longer

Starting the day with an egg breakfast instead of another food with the same calorie count is more likely to lead to weight loss in overweight people.

Eggs have a higher satiety index than regular breakfast cereals, which is generally believed to be due to the high protein content of the eggs.

A recent study examined the impact of egg or bagel breakfasts on perceived cravings over the subsequent 36 hours on 30 overweight and obese women. The effects of the breakfast (bagel or egg) tested two weeks apart.

The egg breakfast consisted of two eggs scrambled, two slices of toast, and one tablespoon of reduced calorie fruit spread. The bagel breakfast consisted of one bagel, two tablespoons of cream cheese and three ounces of low fat yoghurt. The breakfasts contained the same number of calories and both weighed in at around 188 grams.

The volunteers who ate the egg breakfast reported greater levels of satiety and consumed 164 calories less for lunch, and 400 calories less over the next 36 hours.

The researchers reject the proposal that the higher protein content of the egg breakfast (5 grams more than the bagel breakfast) is the sole reason for the increased sensation of satiety, since the fat content of the egg breakfast was also higher. Calories from fat have been linked to increased feelings of hunger and greater food intake.

One way that protein may affect hunger is the impact it has on ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1).

In a recent study, 12 healthy women aged 18–40 were fed an adequate-protein (AP) diet (10% protein, 60% carbohydrate, and 30% fat) or a high-protein (HP) diet (30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat). Researchers measured fat breakdown, energy expenditure (EE) over 24 hours, satiety (“feeling full”), and ghrelin and GLP-1 levels.

Sleeping metabolic rate (6.40 ± 0.47 compared with 6.12 ± 0.40 MJ/d; P < 0.05), diet-induced thermogenesis (0.91 ± 0.25 compared with 0.69 ± 0.24 MJ/d; P < 0.05), and satiety were significantly higher, and activity-induced EE (1.68 ± 0.32 compared with 1.86 ± 0.41; P < 0.05), respiratory quotient (0.84 ± 0.02 compared with 0.88 ± 0.03; P < 0.0005), and hunger were significantly lower during the HP diet.

Ghrelin concentrations were not significantly different between diets, although GLP-1 concentrations after dinner were higher during the HP than during the AP diet.

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References
Vander Wal JS, Marth JM, Khosla P, Jen KL, Dhurandhar NV. (2005). Short-term effect of eggs on satiety in overweight and obese subjects. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 24, 510-515
Lejeune MP, Westerterp KR, Adam TC, Luscombe-Marsh ND, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. (2006). Ghrelin and glucagon-like peptide 1 concentrations, 24-h satiety, and energy and substrate metabolism during a high-protein diet and measured in a respiration chamber. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 83, 89-94