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Diet debate: Is breakfast a waste of time?

飲食爭論：吃早餐是浪費時間嗎?

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - it’s a great start, it’s good for you, it stops you snacking, boosts metabolism and keeps you thin.

早餐是一天中最重要的一餐——早餐是每天的第一餐，吃早餐很好，可以防止你吃零食，加強你的新陳代謝，幫你保持身材。

Well, that’s what we’ve all been told.

好吧，這是我們經常聽到的說辭。

But some scientists argue this is all a myth - and that just because we keep repeating it doesn’t make it true.

但是一些科學家認為這并不真實——因為我們一直吃早餐也并沒有看到如上所說的效果。

So should we bother with breakfast?

所以我們還要吃早餐嗎?

Studies repeatedly show that skipping breakfast is more common in people who are overweight or obese.

研究一再表明，不吃早餐的人當中，有更多超重或肥胖的人。

But this could be a dangerous trap - when the number of ice cream sales goes up so does the number of people getting sunburn. It doesn’t mean ice-cream is causing sunburn.

但這可能是一個危險的陷阱——就像，冰淇淋的銷量在增加，而且被曬傷的人數也在增加，但這并不意味著是冰淇淋導致了曬傷。

This association might be down to something special about brekkie - or maybe the type of people who eat it are generally more active, have a better overall diet or try to lead healthier lives.

這種聯系可能會和早餐有一些具體的關聯——或者吃的人本身通常更活躍、整體上有更規律的飲食，或者他們在努力過一種更加健康的生活。

Despite advocating breakfast as part of a healthy lifestyle, a report by the UK’s National Obesity Observatory concluded that "it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship with Body Mass Index (weight) or whether breakfast is merely a marker for other lifestyle factors that can contribute to healthy body weight".

盡管提倡吃早餐已經成為健康生活的一部分，一份來自英國國家肥胖觀察中心的報告得出結論：早餐和身體質量指數是否有因果關系尚不清楚，或者說早餐對其他的有助于健康體重的生活方式因素來說，是否僅僅是其中的一個參照點。

Breakfast on trial

早餐試驗

The few clinical trials that have actively altered people’s eating habits also showed no impact on waistlines.

極大的改變了人們飲食習慣的為數不多的幾個臨床試驗，也證明早餐對腰圍沒有影響。

The biggest, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, told 300 overweight or obese people to skip or eat breakfast for four months.

最大的一個試驗是發表在美國臨床營養學期刊的，這次試驗對300多名超重或肥胖的人進行為期4個月觀察，讓一部分人不吃早餐，另一部分人吃早餐。

There was absolutely no difference whatsoever in the amount of weight-loss, said Prof David Allison, who conducted that trial at the University of Alabama."With respect to weight, at least in adults, it looks like we’re leaning towards it [breakfast] being a myth."

指導這次試驗的阿拉巴馬大學教授大衛·埃里森說：“早餐對于減肥沒有絲毫影響。至于體重，至少對成年人來說，早餐似乎更像是一個傳說。”

He says people who are skipping breakfast are probably just trying to control their own weight.

他說那些不吃早餐的人很可能只是在用另一種方式控制自己體重。

And one danger for skippers who start having breakfast is it could lead to weight gain, if they don’t eat less later in the day.

而且，對于那些不吃早餐的人來說，當他們開始吃早餐時，如果不在午餐或晚餐減少進食的話，可能會導致體重增加。

So is government advice plain wrong?

所以政府的建議是錯誤的嗎?

In Prof Allison’s opinion: "If they are advising it [breakfast] for weight control then at this point it is not a justified recommendation."

埃里森教授認為：“如果是為了控制體重而建議吃早餐，那么在這一點上，這并不是一個合理的建議。”

Dr Alison Tedstone is from one of the many organisations around the world that tells us breakfast is a good thing, and she points to studies showing people who skip breakfast tend to be bigger, which we already know is an association.

世界上有很多組織告訴我們吃早餐是一件好的事情，艾莉森博士便是其中一員，而且她指出不吃早餐的人似乎更塊大，這也是我們已經知道的一種關聯。

But Dr Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, agrees that the "evidence is by no means conclusive on having breakfast".

但是作為英國公共衛生的首席營養師，艾莉森博士認為“吃早餐并沒有決定性的作用。”

However, she says it is the easiest meal of the day to get right, that skipping it risks snacking on something unhealthy later on and that it can be a struggle to get the right balance of nutrients without starting the day well.

然而，她說早餐是一天當中達到健康飲食最容易實現的一餐，不吃早餐的話，就要承擔晚些時候可能會吃一些不健康食物的風險，而且如果沒能很好的開始每天的第一餐的話，將很難獲得均衡營養。