Working Out Before Breakfast Increases Health Benefits: Study

By changing their eating and exercising schedules, one can better control their blood sugar levels, claims a recent study

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Oct, 2019 ) :By changing their eating and exercising schedules, one can better control their blood sugar levels, claims a recent study.

The six-week study involved thirty men classified as obese or overweight and compared results from two intervention groups (who ate breakfast before/after exercise) and a control group (who made no lifestyle changes), found that people who performed exercise before breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after breakfast.

They found that increased fat use is mainly due to lower insulin levels during exercise when people have fasted overnight, which means that they can use more of the fat from their fat tissue and the fat within their muscles as a fuel. The study was published in the 'Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism'.

To test proof-of-principle the initial study involved only men, but future studies will look to translate these findings for different groups including women.

Whilst this did not lead to any differences for weight loss over six weeks, it did have 'profound and positive' effects on their health because their bodies were better able to respond to insulin, keeping blood sugar levels under control and potentially lowering the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Building on emerging evidence that the timing of meals in relation to exercise can shift how effective exercise is, the team behind this study wanted to focus on the impact on the fat stores in muscles for individuals who either worked out before or after eating and the effect this had on insulin response to feeding.

"Our results suggest that changing the timing of when you eat in relation to when you exercise can bring about profound and positive changes to your overall health," explained Dr Javier Gonzalez of the Department for Health at the University of Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom..

"We found that the men in the study who exercised before breakfast burned double the amount of fat than the group who exercised after. Importantly, whilst this didn't have any effect on weight loss, it did dramatically improve their overall health," added Dr Javier Gonzalez.