James Betts and his colleagues at the University of Bath in England have consistently produced reliable data on breakfast—which we need, because the cereal and bacon companies bombard us daily with their mantra that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which we should eat like a king. In my recent book Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal, I argued that the healthiest option was to skip breakfast and, instead, to go for a run (or a swim or a cycle ride) before work. In their recent paper, Betts and his colleagues found that a group of healthy young men, when challenged with such a regime, lost 400 calories a day, even though they were free to eat as much as they wanted at lunchtime and during the rest of the day.

This is dramatic confirmation that slimness is readily available for anyone who is brave enough to skip breakfast and fit enough to engage in moderate exercise before work—and is willing to acknowledge much of what we “know” about nutrition may be incorrect.