吃早餐對我們的身體有何影響?

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，加強你的新陳代謝，幫你保持身材。

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

好吧，這是我們經常聽到的說辭。

But some scientists argue this is all a myth - and that just because we keep repeating it doesn't make it true. So should we bother with breakfast?

但是一些科學家認爲這並不真實--因爲我們一直吃早餐也並沒有看到如上所說的效果。所以我們還要吃早餐嗎？

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

研究一再表明，不吃早餐的人當中，有更多超重或肥胖的人。但這可能是一個危險的陷阱--就像，冰淇淋的銷量在增加，而且被曬傷的人數也在增加，但這並不意味着是冰淇淋導致了曬傷。

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.

這種聯繫可能會和早餐有一些具體的關聯--或者吃的人本身通常更活躍、整體上有更規律的飲食，或者他們在努力過一種更加健康的生活。

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".

儘管提倡吃早餐已經成爲健康生活的一部分，一份來自英國國家肥胖觀察中心的報告得出結論：早餐和身體質量指數是否有因果關係尚不清楚，或者說早餐對其他的有助於健康體重的生活方式因素來說，是否僅僅是其中的一個參照點。

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.

世界上有很多組織告訴我們吃早餐是一件好的事情，艾莉森博士便是其中一員，而且她指出不吃早餐的人似乎更強壯，這也是我們已經知道的一種關聯。

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

但是作爲英國公共衛生的首席營養師，艾莉森博士認爲“吃早餐並沒有決定性的作用。”

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，她說早餐是一天當中達到健康飲食最容易實現的一餐，不吃早餐的話，就要承擔晚些時候可能會吃一些不健康食物的風險，而且如果沒能很好的開始每天的第一餐的話，將很難獲得均衡營養。