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Diet debate: Is breakfast a waste of time?

饮食争论：吃早餐是浪费时间吗?

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，加强你的新陈代谢，帮你保持身材。

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

好吧，这是我们经常听到的说辞。

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

但是一些科学家认为这并不真实——因为我们一直吃早餐也并没有看到如上所说的效果。

So should we bother with breakfast?

所以我们还要吃早餐吗?

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

研究一再表明，不吃早餐的人当中，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.

但这可能是一个危险的陷阱——就像，冰淇淋的销量在增加，而且被晒伤的人数也在增加，但这并不意味着是冰淇淋导致了晒伤。

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.

这种联系可能会和早餐有一些具体的关联——或者吃的人本身通常更活跃、整体上有更规律的饮食，或者他们在努力过一种更加健康的生活。

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".

尽管提倡吃早餐已经成为健康生活的一部分，一份来自英国国家肥胖观察中心的报告得出结论：早餐和身体质量指数是否有因果关系尚不清楚，或者说早餐对其他的有助于健康体重的生活方式因素来说，是否仅仅是其中的一个参照点。

Breakfast on trial

早餐试验

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

极大的改变了人们饮食习惯的为数不多的几个临床试验，也证明早餐对腰围没有影响。

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

最大的一个试验是发表在美国临床营养学期刊的，这次试验对300多名超重或肥胖的人进行为期4个月观察，让一部分人不吃早餐，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."

指导这次试验的阿拉巴马大学教授大卫·埃里森说：“早餐对于减肥没有丝毫影响。至于体重，至少对成年人来说，早餐似乎更像是一个传说。”

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

他说那些不吃早餐的人很可能只是在用另一种方式控制自己体重。

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，对于那些不吃早餐的人来说，当他们开始吃早餐时，如果不在午餐或晚餐减少进食的话，可能会导致体重增加。

So is government advice plain wrong?

所以政府的建议是错误的吗?

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

埃里森教授认为：“如果是为了控制体重而建议吃早餐，那么在这一点上，这并不是一个合理的建议。”

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.

世界上有很多组织告诉我们吃早餐是一件好的事情，艾莉森博士便是其中一员，而且她指出不吃早餐的人似乎更块大，这也是我们已经知道的一种关联。

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

但是作为英国公共卫生的首席营养师，艾莉森博士认为“吃早餐并没有决定性的作用。”

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，她说早餐是一天当中达到健康饮食最容易实现的一餐，不吃早餐的话，就要承担晚些时候可能会吃一些不健康食物的风险，而且如果没能很好的开始每天的第一餐的话，将很难获得均衡营养。