Health advocate says no to breakfast - But nutritionist urges better choices

For generations, Jamaicans have started their mornings with porridge, tea, bread or other quick meals before heading out for work or school.

But health advocate Michael Lartey believes Jamaicans may need to rethink that long-standing tradition. He argues that many of the foods people consume early in the day, particularly sweetened or processed options, may be doing more harm than good.

"You're basically waking up and stuffing yourself with sugar, carbs and toxins," he said.

Across Jamaica, in addition to the aforementioned porridge, tea, and bread, breakfast usually includes boiled staples, or leftover food from the previous night's dinner. Some meals are often sweetened with milk or sugar, while some persons rely on convenient processed foods such as cereals and instant options. The way these foods are prepared and how frequently they are consumed has increasingly drawn attention from health experts who concerned about diet and lifestyle diseases.

Lartey, who promotes intermittent fasting, said the body goes through different phases of digestion and energy use throughout the day and that mornings should be used primarily for hydration and movement.

"The morning, the last thing you really want to do is eat breakfast," he said. "You might have warm water or tea, do your exercises and get your movement in."

According to Lartey, modern diets are also clashing with increasingly sedentary lifestyles.

"So, what's happening is people are putting energy in, carbs and sugars, but they're sedentary," he said. "So, it's getting stored as fat and leading to things like diabetes and other metabolic disorders."

He said improving diet quality rather than eating more frequently could help address some of these issues.

However, Dr Suzanne Soares-Wynter, a nutrition specialist, said traditional Jamaican breakfast staples themselves are not necessarily unhealthy.

"Foods like cornmeal or oats come from whole food sources," she said. "Where the challenge comes in is the preparation, when people add too much sugar, condensed milk or sweeteners." Breakfast habits in Jamaica are also shaped by culture and practicality, she explained.

"How that would have come about is that when families may not have the benefit of refrigeration at home, when you cook dinner the evening before, it may be left on the counter or in a cooler, and whatever is left over will be eaten the next morning," she said.

While Lartey suggests skipping breakfast may benefit some adults, Soares-Wynter said the same approach may not be suitable for children.

"Children who do not consume breakfast may experience challenges with concentration," she said, noting that studies have also linked inadequate morning nutrition to school attendance and academic performance.

"If a child's last meal was early the evening before, that's a very long fast," she added.

Instead of eliminating breakfast entirely, she recommends focusing on balance.

"Most persons should try to have some kind of protein at their main meals," she said, noting that eggs, sardines, beans and milk can provide protein, while carbohydrates such as porridge, bread or crackers supply energy.

She also cautioned against the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods.

"These cosmetic ingredients are not nutrients," Soares-Wynter said, adding that such foods do not support healthy growth and may affect children's attention and behaviour.