Don’t skip breakfast, don’t crash diet and aim for moderate weight loss: they sound like nuggets of reason amid the pseudoscience of celebrity diet advice. However, Michael Mosley, the TV doctor, says that even these “commonsense” diet tips are myths.
A review of the scientific literature found no evidence that skipping breakfast made losing weight more difficult or that extreme diets were less successful. “These claims make sense on an intellectual level, but when you look at the evidence they fall apart,” said Dr Mosley.
The breakfast myth gained credence, he said, through association studies showing people who eat breakfast