Fat Burning During Exercise Affected By Breakfast

A small research group of healthy, but inactive, women who started to work out revealed they burned more fat after consuming a high-fiber, low-glycemic index breakfast, according to results concluded from a small study, Reuters accounted. 

These results could potentially have significant ramifications for weight management, if substantiated by larger studies, researchers from the University of Nottingham in the UK reported. 

Dr. Emma J. Stevenson and colleagues evaluated oxidation levels of fat immediately after exercise in eight non-dieting, healthy women after consuming a low-glycemic index or a high-glycemic index breakfast. 

Carbohydrates, protein, and dietary fat were equally offered in both the low-glycemic and high-glycemic index breakfast.  The only difference, however, was that the low-glycemic index breakfast included 3.5 grams of fiber from "muesli and milk, yogurt and canned peaches, and a small amount of apple juice," said Stevenson, who is affiliated with Northumbria University currently. 

With the high-glycemic index breakfast, a mere 1.5 grams of fiber was obtained from "cornflakes and milk, white bread and jam, and a carbonated glucose drink," Stevenson informed.

In a report published in The Journal of Nutrition, Stevenson’s team acknowledges previous research that suggests increased exercise-induced fat, as opposed to carbohydrate oxidation, among athletes who consume low glycemic index foods. 

With the current study, each of the eight 24-year old women on two separate instances, on average, ate one of the two breakfasts, and then 3 hours after walked for 60 minutes.

The women indicated higher total fat and lower total carbohydrate oxidation levels after eating the low-glycemic breakfasts when exercising. 

The team reported total fat oxidation levels of 7.4 and 3.7 grams per hour during exercise after women at the low- and high glycemic breakfasts, correspondingly.  Similar total carbohydrate oxidation levels were 42.5 and 51.6 grams per hour, also correspondingly. 

Furthermore, following consumption of equal lunches, the women indicated feeling more satisfied on days when they also ate the low glycemic breakfast.

Based on these introductory results, the study concludes that a high-fiber, low-glycemic index breakfast may amplify fat oxidation and aid satiation.  Stevenson and his team suppose that more research is necessary to examine the possible long-term advantages of coupling low glycemic breakfasts with later exercise. 

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On the Net:

• University of Nottingham
• Journal of Nutrition