The big breakfast diet: Early morning feasts are the secret to beating middle-age spread

Skipping breakfast starves the body of nutrients and prompts it to store more of lunches and dinners as fat, they say.

A study found that consuming up to 50 per cent of the total daily energy intake at breakfast gives the body time to metabolise calories more efficiently.

And whether a person has breakfast or not may affect weight gain more than the amount of food eaten throughout the day.

Doctors from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge conducted a five-year study into the eating habits of 6,764 men and women living in Norfolk aged between 40 and 75.

They found those who ate the biggest breakfast put on the least amount of weight even though they consumed the most food through the course of an average day.

Research leader Dr Nicholas Wareham said that energy intake among big-breakfasters was highest, while increase in body-mass index, and weight, was lowest.

He and his team of researchers found those who obtained between 0 and 11 per cent of their total daily energy intake at breakfast put on 1.23kg over 3.7 years, but middle aged men and women who consumed between 22 and 50 per cent, only put on 0.79kg over the same period.

They conclude: "In our study, all participants gained weight over the follow-up period, on average; however, our data indicate-that consuming a higher proportion of total daily calories at breakfast is associated with relatively lower weight gain in middle age."

Although the researchers say there could be unknown factors which explain the findings, they suspect it is more to do with the way the body metabolises calories.

If the body is starved of food for long periods, as is the case if breakfast is skipped in the mornings, then it begins to store more fat, resulting in weight gain.

According to Dr Wareham, the findings may have serious implications in the fight against obesity, specially for older people.

He told the American Journal of Epidemiology: "From a public health perspective, redistribution of daily energy intake, so that a larger percentage is consumed at breakfast and a lower percentage is consumed over the rest of the day, may help to reduce weight gain in middle-aged adults."

David Haslam of the National Obesity Forum agreed starting the day with a good breakfast was a good way to tackle weight gain. But he said it depended what types of food were consumed.

"If you start off eating something slowburning such as porridge or fruit, that is good because it will keep you ticking over until lunchtime, meaning you will not need to snack in the morning and you won't have the sugar or insulin surges that can led to weight gain," he said.

"But breakfasts won't help you lose weight if they're full of black pudding and fried bacon."