How the composition of our breakfast influences our health

This project is aiming to further understand how composition of a breakfast meal influences our health. Primarily we are interested in how altering the protein and carbohydrate content of a breakfast meal alters our energy balance (such as energy intake and energy expenditure) across the day and whether these differing breakfasts result in changes in our metabolism and health.

Study Design

The experimental work will begin in 2019 and aims to be completed by October 2022. We are interested in the effect of three different "breakfasts":

• Carbohydrate rich - where a breakfast rich in carbohydrates is consumed daily prior to 10am.
• Protein enriched - where we remove some of the carbohydrate content of the carbohydrate rich breakfast and replace it with whey protein to be consumed daily prior to 10am.
• No breakfast - where no energy is consumed until 12pm noon each day.

Intervention

We will assess the responses to breakfast manipulation across 4-weeks. This will allow us to understand how the body reacts to each breakfast, including changes in energy balance and body composition, but also metabolic health.

Recruitment

We are looking for healthy people between the ages of 18 and 65 years, with a body mass index between 18.5 and 29.9 kg/m². A full list of eligibility criteria can be found on our recruitment page.

Funding

This work will be funded by the University of Bath.

Project Team

• Harry Smith
• Dr Jean-Philippe Walhin
• Dr Javier Gonzalez
• Dr James Turner
• Professor Dylan Thompson
• Professor James Betts