This study was a randomised control trial and they had two arms in the study. Researchers took a bunch of obese people and did a two-day randomised crossover design where half of them were randomised to have the eggs for breakfast and the other half were randomised to have the cereals for breakfast. One group had two eggs and two slices of toast with 10 grams of margarine and the other one was bran cereal with milk, orange juice and a little bit of sugar just to match the calories.
Come the next day, they swapped over to see if either the eggs or the cereals impacted on how much they ate at lunch 4 hours after breakfast. Participants were told that for lunch, they were to eat enough to make themselves feel satiated. So what they had were isocaloric meals, which means that they matched the calorie content of both breakfasts.
Researchers measured their subjective hunger levels before the lunch, and they were assessed using a particular scale that's done in these research studies. What they found was very similar to the previous study in Ling people that when you have eggs for breakfast as opposed to breakfast cereal, you are less hungry when it comes to lunchtime. In this case, it meant that participants were about 15% calories less, 14 and a half percent to be specific.
This really puts this question to bed from that angle, is that eggs, because they've got good levels of protein and fat, are more satiating. And it's not only satiety that we need to think about. We have all been hoodwinked by the breakfast cereals that are promoting themselves as whole grain, when actually, they are very far removed from whole grains. These are not low HI foods; they are, in fact, ultra-processed foods.
Not only are cereals an ultra-processed food, but they are going to make you hungrier later, and they're going to make you eat more calories. So ditch the breakfast cereals in favour of eggs, or probably the best breakfast cereal that's around, which is rolled oats and have that with natural, unsweetened full fat yogurt, maybe a bit of kefir in there, lots of nuts, seeds and some berries—and that would actually be a low hair tie breakfast that is quick to make and probably as cheap as your breakfast cereals.
