Breakfast is the most important meal of the day - it's a great start, it's good for you, it stops you snacking, boosts metabolism¹ and keeps you thin.

早餐是一天中最重要的一餐--早餐是每天的第一餐，吃早餐很好，可以防止你吃零食，加强你的新陈代谢，帮你保持身材。

Well, that's what we've all been told.

好吧，这是我们经常听到的说辞。

But some scientists argue this is all a myth - and that just because we keep repeating it doesn't make it true. So should we bother with breakfast?

但是一些科学家认为这并不真实--因为我们一直吃早餐也并没有看到如上所说的效果。所以我们还要吃早餐吗？

Studies repeatedly show that skipping breakfast is more common in people who are overweight or obese². But this could be a dangerous trap - when the number of ice cream sales goes up so does the number of people getting sunburn. It doesn't mean ice-cream is causing sunburn.

研究一再表明，不吃早餐的人当中，有更多超重或肥胖的人。但这可能是一个危险的陷阱--就像，冰淇淋的销量在增加，而且被晒伤的人数也在增加，但这并不意味着是冰淇淋导致了晒伤。

This association might be down to something special about brekkie - or maybe the type of people who eat it are generally more active, have a better overall diet or try to lead healthier lives.

这种联系可能会和早餐有一些具体的关联--或者吃的人本身通常更活跃、整体上有更规律的饮食，或者他们在努力过一种更加健康的生活。

Despite advocating breakfast as part of a healthy lifestyle, a report by the UK's National Obesity³ Observatory⁴ concluded that "it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship with Body Mass Index (weight) or whether breakfast is merely a marker for other lifestyle factors that can contribute to healthy body weight".

尽管提倡吃早餐已经成为健康生活的一部分，一份来自英国国家肥胖观察中心的报告得出结论：早餐和身体质量指数是否有因果关系尚不清楚，或者说早餐对其他的有助于健康体重的生活方式因素来说，是否仅仅是其中的一个参照点。

Dr Alison Tedstone is from one of the many organisations around the world that tells us breakfast is a good thing, and she points to studies showing people who skip breakfast tend to be bigger, which we already know is an association.

世界上有很多组织告诉我们吃早餐是一件好的事情，艾莉森博士便是其中一员，而且她指出不吃早餐的人似乎更强壮，这也是我们已经知道的一种关联。

But Dr Tedstone, chief nutritionist at Public Health England, agrees that the "evidence is by no means conclusive⁵ on having breakfast".

但是作为英国公共卫生的首席营养师，艾莉森博士认为“吃早餐并没有决定性的作用。”

However, she says it is the easiest meal of the day to get right, that skipping it risks snacking on something unhealthy later on and that it can be a struggle to get the right balance of nutrients⁶ without starting the day well.

然而，她说早餐是一天当中达到健康饮食最容易实现的一餐，不吃早餐的话，就要承担晚些时候可能会吃一些不健康食物的风险，而且如果没能很好的开始每天的第一餐的话，将很难获得均衡营养。