SHOULD I EAT DESSERT WITH BREAKFAST TO HELP ME DIET?

It's hard to say whether devouring a dessert at breakfast actually helps with weight loss. The most reported research comes from a team led by endocrinologist Prof Daniela Jakubowicz at Tel Aviv University in Israel. In 2012, her team published a study of 193 people on a calorie-controlled diet who consumed either a low-carbohydrate breakfast or one with high protein and high carbohydrate, including a sweet treat such as a piece of cake or a doughnut.

- 

ALEXA RHODES, WINCHESTER

After 16 weeks, the low-carb group started to regain weight while the breakfast treat group lost a few more kilos. The scientists reported that people in the treat group were more likely to stick to their diets, possibly because the foods lost some of their 'reward value'. The morning dessert also appeared to reduce levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and so cut food cravings. In a later book, The Big Breakfast Diet, Jakubowicz explained that the hormones that control appetite, energy and metabolism vary naturally around the clock. She prescribed an early protein-packed breakfast with a sweet treat, followed by a carb-free lunch and dinner with no sweets.