{"id":462898,"date":"2026-05-27T17:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/462898\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:01:11","slug":"is-breakfast-really-the-most-important-meal-of-the-day-six-of-the-biggest-diet-myths-debunked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/462898\/","title":{"rendered":"Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? Six of the biggest diet myths debunked"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One of science\u2019s main roles in society is to probe extraordinary claims, separate fact from fiction, and set the record straight. But it does not always succeed. <\/p>\n

Indeed, sometimes the exact opposite happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cScience\u201d itself can sometimes take things out of context, and present half-truths which, repeated over generations, eventually come to seem like total certainties. <\/p>\n

These ideas do not necessarily take root because they are true, but because they sound good, seem like common sense, and often carry the authority of being linked to an eminent name.<\/p>\n

When it comes to diet<\/a> and health, this is all too common. <\/p>\n

I am not talking here about the fake news or outright hoaxes<\/a> that proliferate on social media, but phrases and ideas with historical \u2013 and even academic \u2013 pedigree that have been mistakenly adopted as unquestionable truths.<\/p>\n

\"There\u2019sThere\u2019s no biological evidence for the claim that breakfast is the most important meal of the day (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

1. Let food be thy medicine<\/p>\n

One of the best-known examples is the phrase attributed to Ancient Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates: \u201cLet food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food\u201d. While frequently attributed to him, there is no firm basis for this.<\/p>\n

Despite its dubious origins being revealed years ago, the phrase continues to feature in articles and speeches \u2013 likely because it is shrouded in apparent wisdom.<\/p>\n

2. You are what you eat<\/p>\n

Something similar applies to the saying \u201cyou are what you eat\u201d. Today it is often treated as an indisputable truth, but its original meaning was philosophical, not physiological. The phrase formed part of a reflection on the importance of the material dimension of human beings put forward by the 19th century German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach, to challenge those who attached importance only to the soul or the mind.<\/p>\n

With this famous phrase, Feuerbach was advocating for social justice from a political and anthropological perspective \u2013 not making a lifestyle recommendation.<\/p>\n

\"SpinachSpinach has a mistaken reputation as an iron-rich food (Getty\/iStock)<\/p>\n

3. Spinach and iron: a double myth<\/p>\n

The case of spinach<\/a> and iron is curious on two fronts. For years, it was claimed that this vegetable\u2019s mistaken reputation as an iron-rich food was due to a transcription error involving a misplaced decimal point in the early 19th century. The story was so widely accepted that it has been repeated time and again in books, articles and lectures.<\/p>\n

But the supposed decimal error also appears to be untrue. Not only was an incorrect idea about spinach widely spread, but the explanation of this information\u2019s origin was also false.<\/p>\n

4. Carrots and night vision<\/p>\n

Another modern myth is the claim that eating carrots<\/a> improves night vision. Carrots are a source of vitamin A, a nutrient that plays a role in visual function \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean they will miraculously make you see in the dark.<\/p>\n

About the author<\/p>\n

Juan Alfonso Revenga Frauca is an Expert Director in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, International University of Valencia; San Jorge University.<\/p>\n

This article was first published by The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The spread of this idea was closely linked to British World War II propaganda efforts to explain the night-time successes of Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots and British anti-aircraft defences against the German Luftwaffe. <\/p>\n

To conceal the real reason \u2013 which was the RAF\u2019s radar systems \u2013 the myth was allowed to circulate that the pilots and military personnel in charge of air defence followed a diet particularly rich in carrots.<\/p>\n

5. The most important meal of the day<\/p>\n

Even more enduring is the universal adage that breakfast<\/a> is the most important meal of the day. The phrase was first coined by Lenna Frances Cooper, in an article published in 1917 in Good Health, the magazine of the Battle Creek Sanitarium, which was run by John Harvey Kellogg. And it stuck, right up to the present day.<\/p>\n

Eating a good breakfast is important for many people, but there is no overriding biological reason for it to always be the most important meal. Though one thing is certain: cereals are not the ideal choice for your morning meal.<\/p>\n

6. Eight glasses a day<\/p>\n

The recommendation to drink two litres \u2013 or eight glasses \u2013 of water a day is a clear example of half-truth. This advice is typically attributed to old recommendations from 1945 regarding daily hydration requirements, which were set at around 2.5 litres of water. But a key detail is often overlooked; those very same recommendations state that most of this hydration is obtained through food intake.<\/p>\n

We now also know, as those guidelines already suggested, that under normal conditions and barring exceptions, thirst is usually the best guide for drinking.<\/p>\n

\"ThirstThirst is the best indicator that you should have a drink, rather than trying to consume a set amount of water (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

How falsehoods take root<\/p>\n

Many of these share common mechanisms. They are short, sound reasonable, and appear trustworthy. Some bear the prestigious name of a famous author, whilst others are presented with the vague backing of \u201cscience\u201d \u2013 even when that backing is actually far less solid than it seems.<\/p>\n

In all cases, repetition plays a decisive role. The more a phrase is repeated, the more familiar it becomes. And the more familiar it becomes, the truer it seems.<\/p>\n

There is another important factor at play here. Many of these messages serve the interests of a particular food industry and promote certain dietary choices. They are used to sell products, persuade people and shape habits. To correct or challenge them would take effort, knowledge and time \u2013 but keeping them alive simply involves repeating a catchy, well-established phrase.<\/p>\n

Further examples could be added. Take the truncated quote \u201cin vino veritas\u201d, which simply refers to alcohol\u2019s ability to loosen the tongue. The full quote, attributed to Pliny the Elder, is \u201cin vino veritas, in aqua sanitas\u201d, which recommends drinking water if you want to look after your health.<\/p>\n

The commercial dogma that you should eat five times a day also lacks sufficient evidence to support it. And the idea that a glass of milk helps you sleep due to its high tryptophan content exposes the shortcomings of rampant nutritionism.<\/p>\n

Many of these are not flat out lies, but they don\u2019t always have to be. Sometimes it\u2019s enough to exaggerate a fact, take it out of context, and turn simple advice into a catchphrase.<\/p>\n

Science not only has to contend with the falsehoods circulating outside it. It must also keep a watchful eye on those that, whether due to perceived prestige or simply out of habit, end up taking root within it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,85,46,543],"class_list":["post-462898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}