The question of whether it is better to train with or without breakfast has been a hotly contested question among runners for years. A new study finally provides an answer.
As a child, I was always told that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. That didn’t really make sense to me at the time. I took it easy without it. On some days even until the end of school shortly after one o’clock in the afternoon. At some point on the way to adulthood, however, that changed. No idea why. Suddenly there was hunger in the morning. My unconscious decision was scientifically backed up a few years later. Because then a study appeared that showed that people who eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight. Whoops!
On the other hand, the question of whether it is better to train with or without breakfast has been controversial among runners for years. One faction says that if you start on an empty stomach, your body accesses your fat reserves faster and you burn more. What reduces body weight and makes you fitter overall.
The body needs fuel for sport
Total nonsense, say the others. After all, the body needs fuel for exercise. That is also my opinion. So far, this is mainly based on my personal experience. Whenever I ran without breakfast, I felt significantly more powerless and tortured myself about the route. Most of the time I had calf cramps in the nights after that. As I said, that’s my experience. So far there has not been any good scientific evidence.
A recently published study from the American journal “” seems to provide this. Accordingly, a boisterous breakfast before exercise works well beyond the morning. The study examined 31,000 Americans and their daily eating habits. From the data, the researchers calculated how much micronutrients were ingested.
According to this, around 15 percent of the participants did without breakfast. During the course of the day, however, these people consumed significantly more calories, carbohydrates, saturated fats and additional sugar with their meals than those who had breakfast. In addition, it was much more difficult for them to take the recommended daily amount of important vitamins and minerals such as folic acid, calcium and iron. Include vitamins A and B as well as C and D.
This part of the investigation is particularly important for runners. Because these substances have a great influence on physical performance and how quickly you get exhausted during sport. Folic acid in particular is said to improve the blood flow to the muscles and thus their supply of oxygen.
